In Brief
P. Chidambaram challenged the Delhi High Court's refusal to grant anticipatory bail in a money-laundering case related to irregular FIPB clearance granted to INX Media for foreign investment. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that anticipatory bail in complex money-laundering cases should be refused to enable proper investigation with custodial interrogation. Section 438 CrPC is an extraordinary power exercisable only in exceptional cases. The Court affirmed that anticipatory bail is not a fundamental right under Article 21, and that in economic offences like money-laundering, the investigating agency must have freedom to interrogate the accused and trace money trails. Courts can peruse investigation materials without first confronting the accused. The Court rejected arguments that the appellant should have been shown materials during interrogation or that interrogation transcripts be produced to verify evasiveness claims.
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