New Delhi: With the arrest of former Union minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday night (August 21), the netizens related the incident with the same charge that the BJP levelled against the Congress-led UPA government of Manmohan Singh around nine years ago.

In 2010, Amit Shah, who was then a Gujarat minister, was being investigated in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Sheikh was a criminal and had more than 50 pending cases against him when he was reportedly killed in police custody in 2005 while Shah was then serving as Gujarat home minister.

Several allegations were levelled against Shah as they reportedly said that he was the "reason" behind the criminal's death.

Later, on the direction of the Supreme Court, the encounter case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January 2010, while UPA's Chidambaram was the Union home minister.

In July 2010, Amit Shah was arrested by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin encounter case and was reportedly charged on murder, extortion and kidnapping.

While Shah approached for bail, the CBI opposed his move in the Gujarat high court and claimed that he might use his political power to tamper the evidence.

In this regard, Shah then accused Chidambaram and the Congress for misusing the CBI to target their political opponents.

Now Shah is the Union home minister, and Chidambaram is facing similar consequences after the CBI slapped charges of financial fraud in the INX media case.

 

Earlier, tension prevailed at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi after the Delhi high court on Tuesday (August 20) refused to give Chidambaram protection from arrest in connection to INX media case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI enquired about the former union minister near his residence in Delhi to "question" him in connection with the case.

However, several leaders from the Congress called the CBI move against Chidambaram, who was a top minister during the 10 years of UPA rule holding portfolios of home and finance, as political vendetta.