Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that he did not want any officials, associated with the INX Media case, to be arrested as they had done nothing wrong. The Congress leader, who is in lodged in Tihar jail at the moment, said that he had asked his family to tweet on his behalf.
“People have asked me ‘If the dozen officers who processed and recommended the case to you have not been arrested, why have you been arrested?” the tweet read. “Only because you have put the last signature?’ I have no answer.”
Last week, a Central Bureau of Investigation court sent Chidambaram to judicial custody till September 19 in connection with the INX Media case. The court directed that Chidambaram should be kept in a separate cell as he has Z-security. It also allowed him to carry his medicines to jail.
Under the Congress leader’s tenure as the Union finance minister in the United Progress Alliance government, the CBI has claimed that there were irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s foreign direct investment clearance to INX Media in 2007. The company was then owned by businesspersons Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, who are lodged in jail in connection with the murder of Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter Sheena Bora.
CBI claimed that Chidambaram’s son, Karti Chidambaram, allegedly received Rs 10 lakh from the company for helping it avoid punitive action for taking Rs 305 crore in foreign funding in 2007 despite having clearance for only Rs 4 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate had filed a money laundering case in May 2017 against Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and the Mukerjeas. The former owners of INX Media reportedly told the investigating agencies that Chidambaram had asked them to meet his son and help him with his business.
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