'Give a shred of evidence against P Chidambaram,' family dares govt

P Chidambaram. Pic/PTI

Chennai: As former Union minister P Chidambaram fights a legal battle against his arrest in the INX Media case, his family on Tuesday alleged the government's motive was to demonising him and demanded the Centre produce evidence in support of its allegations like properties in multiple countries and numerous shell companies. In a statement, the family said they were distressed that the "media has been reporting completely wild, unverified and unsubstantiated allegations" against Chidambaram in the last few days.

Alleging that the government's motive was to demonise and humiliate Chidambaram, his family claimed the media was unable to uphold "liberty against calumny", adding that they were hence deeply saddened.

"Every person is presumed innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law," the statement said.

"We challenge the government to produce a shred of evidence in support of one undisclosed bank account, one undisclosed property or one shell company anywhere in the world," said the statement by the family of Chidambaram that was uploaded on the twitter handle of his son Karti.

They appealed to the media to exercise restraint and uphold liberty and dignity.

'ED wants to arrest me to humiliate me'

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till today protection from arrest granted to P Chidambaram in the money laundering case. He refuted the ED allegations that he has properties and accounts in 12 foreign nations, and said he has disclosed each and every asset. "You [ED] want to arrest me, but for what reason? The answer is - to humiliate me, to humiliate me and to humiliate me, minute by minute and hour by hour," he said. "Their [ED] case is that they have all the evidence. Our case is that they never put it (documents) to him during the questioning," said his advocate Kapil Sibal.

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