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Press Trust of India
Mr Chidambaram is a former finance minister
Former Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has been arrested at his home in Delhi over alleged corruption.
He is being investigated over allegations that he cleared foreign investments in exchange for bribes while he was finance minister in 2007.
Mr Chidambaram, 73, has denied any wrongdoing.
A senior member of the main opposition Congress party and an MP since 1984, he has also served as home minister.
He is due to appear in court on Thursday.
Officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scaled the walls of his Delhi home on Wednesday evening to make the arrest. Chaotic scenes unfolded as supporters and media surrounded his car while being driven away.
The Delhi High Court had rejected an application for bail on Tuesday and hours before his arrest Mr Chidambaram’s legal team had approached the Supreme Court.
His lawyer told the court that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was carrying out a “politically-motivated vendetta” against Mr Chidambaram and his son, Karti, who is also implicated in the case.
Senior Congress leaders too have accused the BJP of “misusing power”.
The BJP has not responded to the allegations, but its spokesperson told the NDTV news website that the Congress party should be ashamed that Mr Chidambaram had turned into an “absconder”.
Earlier on Wednesday the CBI had said they could not find Mr Chindambaram. But he then appeared at a press conference to reject accusations that he had been “hiding from the law”, saying he had instead been consulting with his lawyers.
He was arrested at home later in the day.
A Harvard Business School graduate, Mr Chidambaram has served as finance minister four times, but he never completed a term.
His first two stints – between June 1996 and March 1998 – were in successive coalition governments, both of which collapsed about a year after they were formed. But during his brief second term, he slashed taxes, including corporate rates, as part of what the Indian media hailed as a “dream budget”.
He again served as finance minister under the Congress-led government from 2004 to 2008 before he was appointed as home minister. He replaced Shivraj Patil, who resigned amid criticism in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
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Mr Chidambaram’s son, Karti Chidambaram, is a Congress party MP
He is also a lawyer and has practised in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.
He is being questioned over allegations that he cleared foreign direct investment worth tens of millions of dollars to INX Media in 2007 when he was finance minister. Karti Chidambaram allegedly received kickbacks from INX at the time that the investment was cleared by the finance ministry.
Both men, who strongly deny the allegations, are being investigated by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates financial crimes.
The CBI arrested Karti Chidambaram in 2018, but he was later released on bail. He is a Congress MP from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.