SC grants P Chidambaram bail in INX media case

After being in custody since August 21, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram would now walk free, as the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted him bail in a money laundering case registered in connection with the INX media scam.

A bench of Justices R Banumathi, A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy allowed an appeal filed by Chidambaram against the Delhi HC’s order of November 15 that had rejected his plea for bail.

The court said economic offences fell under the category of grave offences. Still, bail can’t be denied in all cases in view of the cardinal principle that jail is an exception and bail is the rule, it said.