The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday challenged the bail granted to Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in connection with the INX Media money laundering case, PTI reported. In March, the Delhi High Court had granted bail to Karti Chidambaram after the investigating agency kept him in custody for questioning for 23 days.
In its appeal, the CBI said that it was “impermissible” for the High Court to entertain Karti Chidambaram’s bail petition when a similar application was pending before the trial court, PTI reported.
“Further, the High Court while granting bail failed to exercise its discretion in a judicious manner without ascertaining the nature of accusation, the nature of supporting evidence and the reasonable apprehension of tampering with the evidence in the present case,” the CBI said.
The case
In May 2017, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors Indrani Mukerjea and Peter Mukerjea. Karti Chidambaram’s company allegedly received Rs 10 lakh from INX Media – which had received clearance from the Foreign Exchange Promotion Board for Rs 4 crore in foreign funding, when in fact it had got Rs 305 crore in 2007. P Chidambaram was the finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at that time.
The money was paid to Karti Chidambaram in return for help to get away without facing any punitive action, investigators had told the court. Karti Chidambaram has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the INX Media case.
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