Prime Minister and senior Congress leader, Manmohan Singh, along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi went to meet party leader P Chidambaram in Tihar jail on September 23. Manmohan Singh there expressed concerns over the continued detention in custody of the Congress leader. P Chidambaram, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail on corruption charges.

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Government system will collapse 

"We are concerned with the continued detention in custody of our colleague P Chidambaram," Singh said in a statement after meeting Chidambaram.

He said in the country's system of government, no decision can be taken by any single person and all decisions are collective decisions recorded in files. He further said that a dozen officers, including six secretaries to the government, examined and recommended the proposal and Chidambaram as minister approved the unanimous recommendation.

"If the officers are not at fault, it is beyond our comprehension how the minister who simply approved the recommendation can be accused of committing an offence. If the minister is liable for approving a recommendation, the whole system of government will collapse," he said.

"We are confident, and we sincerely hope, that the courts will render justice in this case," the former prime minister said in the statement.

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The INX Media case and 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 group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the Finance Minister. Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate had lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017. Chidambaram was first arrested by the CBI in connection with the INX Media case on August 22 from his New Delhi residence. He is currently been held in judicial custody in Tihar Jail after a Delhi Court dismissed his plea seeking to surrender to the ED in the money laundering case of INX Media. Both agencies are still probing Chidambaram in the case.

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