New Delhi: Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who has been in Tihar jail since September 5, was on Saturday referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for a medical check-up after he complained of stomach pain.
Although inmates in Tihar are usually referred to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, a court order had said that if Chidambaram complains of any medical issue, he should be referred ti AIIMS, RML hospital or Safdarjung hospital.
Chidambaram's judicial custody was extended by two weeks to October 17 by a special CBI court on Wednesday. The Supreme Court has posted his bail hearing for October 15.
In his bail plea filed before the SC, the 74-year-old leader had argued that his health is deteriorating and he has lost four kilograms as he is not accustomed to the food provided inside the jail.
Currently in judicial custody in Tihar Jail, Chidambaram's plea said, "His health is frail. He has been kept in a cell and given food that he is not accustomed to. He has already lost 4 kg weight in the period of judicial custody."
"Chidambaram has been incarcerated for 42 days including the maximum permissible period of 15 days of CBI custody remand, and therefore, his continuing incarceration is in the form of punishment as his custody can neither be taken nor is required for the purpose of investigation," the bail plea said.
The court, keeping his health in mind, had allowed him to have home-cooked food inside jail once a day.
Chidambaram was arrested on August 21 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during his tenure as the finance minister.
Thereafter, the ED lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017. The CBI has opposed his bail petition as it described the alleged crime as the "gravest case of economic offences".
The Congress, however, termed the former Union minister’s arrest a “political witch-hunt”, with several party leaders — interim chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior colleagues like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel — paying him a visit in jail.
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