Calling Chidambaram an absconder very unfair: Singhvi

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday defended former Union Minister P Chidambaram saying he had appeared before the media on Wednesday even when he was not required to.

"The man was exercising his legal rights. He had no reason to address the nation in a press conference. Yet he walked in with his head held high and addressed the press conference and the media still calls him an absconder. That is very unfair and disrespectful," Singhvi told reporters before leaving for the Rouse Avenue Court here.

Singhvi is also one of the counsels for Chidambaram along with Kapil Sibal said the media was unnecessarily trying to sensationalize the issue.

"The media is sensationalizing it. The man (Chidambaram) was having a legal conference with me till 7 pm yesterday evening and addressed the press conference after that," Singhvi said.

Chidambaram was later produced before a special CBI court here, a day after he was arrested by the probe agency in a corruption case related to INX Media scam.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, his son Karti and wife Nalini also arrived at the Delhi court where Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar will hear the matter.

The Congress leader, one of the key ministers during ten years of UPA rule, was taken to the headquarters of the probe agency on Wednesday night after CBI officials scaled the boundary walls of his residence in Jor Bagh minutes after he made a dramatic appearance at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi.

Chidambaram had rejected the charges against him and his son in the case and said that "lies" were being spread by "pathological liars."

On Wednesday, the former minister failed to get relief from the Supreme Court over CBI and ED's pursuit of him as the matter was not heard by the court despite repeated efforts of his lawyers.

The CBI and ED filed caveats in the Supreme Court over Chidambaram's plea seeking protection from arrest in the INX media case.