The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday took former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram to the Byculla jail in Mumbai for further investigation in the INX Media case. Karti Chidambaram was questioned along with former owner of INX Media, Indrani Mukerjea, who is currently in jail in connection with the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora.
Later, the CBI brought Karti Chidambaram back to Delhi, ANI reported. He told the media on arriving in the national Capital that all allegations against him were “false and politically motivated”.
On March 1, the CBI got five-day custody of Karti Chidambaram for questioning. The agency arrested him on Wednesday in the INX Media case for allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The CBI had earlier said that it arrested him after Indrani Mukerjea had alleged that P Chidambaram had asked her and her husband Peter Mukerjea to help his son’s business. In a statement to the CBI, she alleged that the Mukerjeas and Karti Chidambaram had struck a $1-million (Rs 6.5-crore) deal to get the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s approval for Foreign Direct Investment in INX Media in 2007, The Indian Express reported.
The INX Media case
In May 2017, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors, which include Indrani and Peter Mukerjea. His company had allegedly received Rs 10 lakh from the INX Media, which got a clearance from the Foreign Exchange Promotion Board for Rs 4 crore but actually received Rs 305 crore in foreign funding in 2007. P Chidambaram was the finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at that time.
Karti Chidambaram allegedly received the money in return for help to get out of the situation without facing any punitive action, the Enforcement Directorate had alleged.
On February 24, P Chidambaram had moved the Supreme Court seeking protection of his fundamental rights in connection with the Aircel-Maxis and INX media case. The Congress leader, who is also a senior advocate, asked the top court to order the investigating agencies to stop their “illegal” inquiries in the cases as they amounted to harassment of his family and him.
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