AMN / NEW DELHI
Karti Chidambaram, arrested in the INX Media case, was today sent to five day-CBI custody by a Delhi court. Special Judge Sunil Rana extended Karti’s custody till March 6 after the CBI claimed that when Karti went abroad, he closed bank accounts in which funds were received.
Karti was produced before the court on expiry of one-day CBI custody amidst the presence of his parents P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, maintained that this was “not a case of political vendetta” and the investigation was going on in accordance with Constitution. He said there is substantial evidence with the agency which needs to be confronted with Karti.
Karti was arrested yesterday at Chennai Airport on his return from the United Kingdom in connection with the FIR lodged on May 15 last year alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the union finance minister.
Karti Chidambaram has been accused of getting government clearance for foreign investments worth around Rs. 300 crore in television company INX Media in exchange for bribes in 2007. Investigators say he used the influence of his father P Chidambaram, who was then the Union Finance Minister.
Calling the evidence against Karti Chidambaram “explosive”, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the agency, said several documents and three cellphones seized from him also needed to be examined.
Mr Mehta told the court that two companies – Chess Management And Advantage Strategic Management — figure in the evidence.
He also cited the evidence given by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who were the owners of INX media, the television company at the heart of the controversy. Their statement to the Enforcement Directorate links the former Union minister to the case.
Senior advocate and Congress lawmaker Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is representing Karti Chidambaram, the agency is making a “deliberate attempt to prejudice the court with half-baked facts”. Karti Chidambaram’s answer, he said, “doesn’t suit the CBI” so it says he is being “non-cooperative”.