CBI told not to arrest PC's wife for 6 weeks

The Calcutta High Court on Monday instructed the CBI not to arrest Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, in relation to the Saradha chit fund scam.

The high court also instructed Nalini to cooperate in the investigation, keeping her anticipatory bail plea pending.

During the hearing before a division bench headed by Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Nalini's lawyer Pradeep Ghosh pointed out that in the sixth supplementary chargesheet filed in January, the CBI mentioned her as an accused, while in an earlier chargesheet filed in 2016, she was not mentioned as an accused.

Countering CBI's allegation that an amount of Rs. 1.3 crore was paid to Nalini from the deposit collected illegally by the Saradha Group, her counsel argued that the amount was paid to her as the legal advisor to Manoranjana Singh, the estranged wife of former Union minister Matang Singh.

The division bench instructed Nalini and CBI to file affidavits in support of their submissions.