P Chidambaram taken into custody, moved to CBI headquarters

Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram. Pic/Twitter IANS

In a swift operation on Wednesday night, Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram was taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) minutes after he reached his Jor Bagh home after making a dramatic appearance at the press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi.

After his arrest, Chidambaram was seated in the middle of a white car with CBI personnel sitting on his either side as the former minister was driven straight to the CBI headquarters which is located barely a few kilometres away from his house for further investigation.

According to sources, CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla was himself present at the headquarters along with top officers of the agency for the questioning of the former minister. After taking a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Chidambaram arrived at his home and in no time was nabbed by the CBI personnel who scaled walls and entered the premises for his arrest.

Besides CBI, a team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) also followed to arrest the senior Congress leader who was at his house along with a host of lawyers that included the likes of Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. When the team of CBI personnel arrived to arrest Chidambaram, a small group of Congress supporters who were seen shouting slogans were arrested by the Delhi Police personnel so that they did not pose any obstructions for the CBI.

Also Read: Watch Video: CBI team scales wall to enter P Chidambaram's house

The entire operation of arresting the former finance minister was swiftly executed within half an hour of his arrival in Jor Bagh, his place of residence in New Delhi. According to sources, a team of CBI personnel had kept a close watch outside Chidambaram's house ever since the Delhi High Court rejected his anticipatory bail on Tuesday.

After the Delhi HC rejected Chidambaram's bail plea, a CBI team, who were about to arrest him on the same day could not find him home. But the team of CBI personnel swarmed the area and kept a close vigil on the visitors.

Also Read: Chidambaram makes dramatic appearance at Congress party headquarters

With inputs from IANS

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates