India, Sept. 5 -- In a setback to former Union minister P Chidambaram, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant him pre-arrest bail in the INX Media money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate. Now, ED can arrest Chidambaram in this case.

The top court dismissed Chidambaram's plea challenging the Delhi High Court verdict denying him anticipatory bail in the case, saying economic offence has to be dealt with differently as it affects economy of the country.

A bench of Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna said it is not a fit case to grant anticipatory bail. Grant of anticipatory bail to Chidambaram at this stage will hamper investigation, it said. The investigating agency has to be given sufficient freedom to conduc...