Karti Chidambaram brought to Mumbai, grilled alongside Indrani Mukerjea
05 Mar 2018
The Central Bureau of Investigation brought Karti Chidambaram, son of former union minister P Chidambaram, to Byculla Jail in Mumbai from Delhi on Sunday to question him there alongside Indrani Mukerjea in connection with alleged charges of corruption in the INX Media deal.
Chidambaram was brought to the jail in central Mumbai around 11.15 am by a six-member team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Mukerjea, who is accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, is a former director of INX Media (P) Ltd and is lodged in the jail.
The two were brought face to face and questioned by the CBI team for about four hours. After the questioning, the CBI team left the prison along with Karti and headed towards the airport to catch a flight back to Delhi.
Before boarding a flight to Delhi, Karti shouted ''I am innocent'' to the assembled media contingent, but was prevented from speaking any further by the local police.
The investigating agencies had arrested Karti Chidambaram on 28 February following a statement by Indrani Mukerjea in which she had alleged that P Chidambaram, when he was union finance minister, had asked her and her husband Peter Mukerjea to help his son's business.
In her statement recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, Mukerjea alleged that a deal worth $1 million was struck between Karti and the Mukerjeas to swing foreign investment approval for of INX Media.
According to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, Indrani and Peter have said in their statements that they met P Chidambaram at his North Block office in connection with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval for foreign direct investment worth about Rs305 crore in INX Media in 2007.
Additional director general of police (prisons), Maharashtra Police, Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, confirming that Karti was brought to Byculla Jail, said, ''A court has granted the CBI permission to interrogate Karti with an accused lodged at Byculla jail and we are following the order.''
It is alleged that Karti had received funds to the tune of Rs10 lakh in the case. The CBI alleged that Karti Chidambaram also received money from INX media to scuttle a tax probe. The firm was owned at the time by former media baron Peter Mukerjea and Indrani, who are in jail on charges of murdering Indrani's daughter Sheena. The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a money laundering case.
The CBI and the ED had carried out a series of searches at the houses and offices owned by the Chidambarams. Karti Chidambaram was questioned several times by the ED. A Delhi court had on 1 March allowed the interrogation of Karti in custody by the CBI for five days, saying there was a need to unearth the larger conspiracy in the INX Media case and his presence would serve an important purpose. The court had said his custody was necessary to confront him with documents and the co-accused, as well as to probe the role of others involved in the case.