INX Media Case: KARTI Chidambaram’s CBI Remand Extended By Five Days: ‘Arrest P Chidambaram’, Says Subramaniam Swamy

EX-Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram arrested by the CBI in the INX Media case was on Thursday remanded to CBI custody for interrogation for five days. The probe agency has relied heavily on the confessions made by Indrani and her spouse Peter Mukherjees that they had paid money to Karti as instructed by the former Finance Minister at a hotel to get foreign investment clearance. They claimed to have met Chidambaram in his office in New Delhi’s North Block in 2007 .Karti P  Chidambaram, 46, son of high profile Congress leader from Tamil Nadu was nabbed on Wednesday by the CBI at Chennai airport soon after he landed from London for trying to tamper with documents related to the Case. He denied CBI’s accusation that he was not cooperating with the probe agency or trying to destroy any evidence. He was flown to Delhi the same day and produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate at the Patiala House Courts and praying for his 15 days’ custodial interrogation on the ground that he was not cooperating with them in probing the case. There was clinching evidence against him, CBI said. Duty magistrate Sumeet Anand granted one day’s CBI custody and asked the CBI to produce him before a designated CBI Judge on Thursday. The high profile businessman’s chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman was arrested from a five-star hotel in Delhi on February 16. The CBI has filed a case against Karti Chidambaram after the Enforcement Directorate alleged irregularities in granting foreign direct investment clearance to the media company when his father was Finance Minister. Karti is accused of taking bribes to help the media company owned by Mukherjeas get foreign investments. The probe agency suspected that he had received INR 3.5 crore through a front company. The Chidambarams have denied committed wrongdoing. The national investigative agency has alleged that Karti had received money from INX Media for manipulating the Foreign Promotion Investment Board to help the media house receive investment from Mauritius. The CBI has said that it also seized vouchers of INR 10 lakh which were allegedly paid for the services. The Congress today said Karti’s arrest is a “classic diversionary tactic” adopted by the Modi government to distract people’s attention from the massive bank scam committed by diamond traders Nirav Modi, his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi and others. The BJP govt continues its vendetta and vindictive politics to target opponents. However, it will not stop the Congress from bringing the truth out to the people,” said the Congress. Former Union Minister P Chidambaram has moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summons against him in the INX Media case. He reportedly told the ED that he was appearing before the agency “under protest”. He was first grilled by the agency on January 18.The ED had earlier summoned Karti on February 2 after which he informed them he would be unable to depose as he had an interlocutory application pending in the Supreme Court in this case. The central probe agency had registered the case against Karti and others in May last year. It had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED’s equivalent of a police FIR, against the accused named in a CBI complaint, including Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors — Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. The INX Media case has been on the radar of investigative agencies from January 2008 when the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) flagged the foreign direct investment of over INR 305 crore by three Mauritius-based companies in INX Media Pvt Ltd.Incidentally, Chennai born Karti Chidambaram, an MBA & LLB,  is involved in the country’s oldest political party All India Congress Committee. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram, both parents of Karti were present during hearing of the case. Meanwhile, Republic TV and some other channels have not ruled out possibility of interrogation of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram by CBI in the case saying he has been named in the confessions made by Indrani Mukherjee. (image- indiatoday)