File Picture Courtesy : Zee News
After a Delhi court sent Karti Chidambaram to CBI custody until March 6 in connection with INX Media case, there are various media reports that the CBI will soon question his father , former finance minister P Chidambaram.
With the second leg of the budget session of parliament beginning on March 5, Karti’s arrest is sure to cause a furore and a slug fest between the government and Congress is very much on the cards.
Earlier, Karti was brought to the court amidst tight security where his father P Chidambaram and mother Nalini Chidambaram were waiting for him. “Be strong and brave. I am with you,” P Chidambaram told his son as he tried to hide his worry. He was also seen prompting and guiding his legal team to read a particular paragraph from an order given by the Madras High Court. The court however refused to allow home-cooked food, but let Karti take prescribed medicines. CBI assured the court that it would give him the best quality food and treatment.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta appeared for the CBI. Lawyers, including Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Dayan Krishan and Mohit Mathur, represented Karti.
According to a report in The New Indian Express, a senior CBI official supervising the probe said, “Former finance minister P Chidambaram will be summoned to the agency headquarters here and questioned soon. Although he is not named as an accused, his role in the grant of irregular FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) clearance to INX Media is part of the FIR.”
Chidambaram’s name was figured in a statement by Indrani Mukerjea — former Director of INX Media (P) Ltd. In her statement, Indrani has said that she and her husband Peter Mukerjea had met former Union Minister P Chidambaram to seek government approval to foreign investment proposals worth around Rs 300 crore in the company INX Media.
This statement was recorded under section 164 of CrPC before a magistrate on February 17 and therefore can be treated as evidence.
