The Central Bureau of Investigation has named former INX Media co-owner Indrani Mukerjea in a chargesheet filed against several persons in a corruption case, but she will not be tried, NDTV reported on Friday. The chargesheet, filed before a special court in Delhi, said that Mukerjea had turned approver in the case and therefore been pardoned. Mukerjea is currently in jail for the murder of her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012.
The court had in July accepted Mukerjea’s plea to turn approver. The CBI’s chargesheet names 14 accused including former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram, and former INX Media owners Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea.
The CBI has alleged that there were irregularities in the foreign direct investment clearance granted to INX Media by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in 2007. P Chidambaram was the finance minister at the time. The agency has submitted purported emails between INX Media and a company belonging to Karti Chidambaram, claiming that these emails will “prove offences committed”. INX Media had received foreign investment Rs 403.07 crore against approved FDI of Rs 4.62 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate filed a money laundering case in May 2017 against Karti Chidambaram and the Mukerjeas.
Meanwhile, the CBI also claimed on Friday that Indrani Mukerjea said she paid a bribe of $5 million (Rs 35.5 crore at current exchange rates) to P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram through offshore payments in Singapore, Mauritius, Bermuda, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the Hindustan Times reported. The CBI added that it is awaiting a response to its Letters Rogatory sent to the five countries. A Letter Rogatory is a formal request to a foreign court for judicial assistance.
The CBI and Enforcement Directorate are separately investigating the case against P Chidambaram. On Thursday, the court gave the Enforcement Directorate custody of Chidambaram till October 24 in the case. The agency, which arrested Chidambaram on Wednesday, had sought 14-day custodial interrogation.
Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar also extended the Congress leader’s judicial custody by a week in the case lodged by the CBI. The 74-year-old former minister has been in jail since September 5 in connection with the case. He was arrested by CBI on August 21.
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