Former Indian finance minister bailed

NEW DELHI: Indian ex-finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram was granted bail on Wednesday, 106 days after his dramatic arrest on corruption charges that he says are part of a government witch-hunt against political opponents.

Chidambaram, 73, a political veteran from the main opposition Congress party, was told to submit a bond of 200,000 Rupees ($2,800), not make any public statements on the issue and to surrender his passport.

Congress had earlier described Chidambaram’s arrest in August by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s equivalent to the FBI, as a "shameless witch-hunt" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Chidambaram, a wealthy lawyer from a land-owning family from Tamil Nadu state, served twice as finance minister and once as home minister during Manmohan Singh’s 2004-14 tenure as premier. He is accused of receiving bribes, money-laundering and of illegally approving the acquisition of a telecommunications firm by a Malaysian company.

His son Karti Chidambaram and several government officials are also being investigated over their role in the scandals when Singh’s Congress-led alliance was in power.

His arrest saw CBI officers scale the boundary wall of his upscale residence in central New Delhi before escorting him to their headquarters for questioning.