The Supreme Court has extended till Wednesday protection from arrest granted to Congress leader P. Chidambaram in INX Media money laundering case.

The former finance minister P. Chidambaram also sought in the Supreme Court a directive to the Enforcement Directorate to produce transcripts of his interrogation conducted on three dates in the INX Media money laundering case. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chidambaram, told the bench of Justices R. Banumathi and A.S. Bopanna that they have filed an application seeking direction to the ED to produce the transcripts of the questioning conducted on December 19 last year, January 1, 2019, and January 21, 2019.

The transcripts will show whether Chidambaram was evasive during his questioning, as alleged by the ED, Sibal said.

He told the bench that the ED cannot place documents in court randomly and 'behind the back' for seeking Chidambaram's custody.

'They are just producing documents at random and saying this is part of the case diary,' Sibal said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also appearing for Chidambaram, said the fundamental right of citizens under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) cannot be suspended.

Singhvi argued that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was amended in 2009, whereas the allegations in the case are of 2007-2008.

'You try and paint a person as a kingpin when these alleged offences did not exist at that time,' he told the court during the arguments which will continue in the post-lunch session.

On Monday, the apex court had extended till Tuesday protection from arrest to Chidambaram.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.

The same month, the ED lodged a money laundering case against him.

Written with PTI reports