P Chidambaram In Court For Son Karti's Case, CBI Wants Custody Extended

NEW DELHI: Just hours after the country's top court refused to stop the Enforcement Directorate from arresting Karti Chidambaram, the CBI has told a Delhi court that it wanted to question the Congress leader's son for nine more days. Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation last Wednesday in the INX Media investment case and the agency has questioned him for five days.

He has been accused of receiving kickbacks a decade back to clear foreign investment into INX Media group, using the influence of his father P Chidambaram, who was then the Union finance minister. At the time, the company was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

Karti Chidambaram's lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi has opposed the extension of his custodial interrogation and asked that he should be released on bail.

The CBI has backed up its request to give them nine more days to question Karti Chidambaram in the INX media case with a report outlining the progress made in its investigation. The report was given to the court in a sealed cover.

This is in line with the CBI's contention made last week too that it knew details about Karti Chidambaram's involvement but could not talk about them in an open court.
 Tushar Mehta, a senior law officer of the government who appeared for the probe agency, told the special CBI court that its case was not just based on Indrani Mukerjea testimony but also other evidence that it had gathered.

"From India to global, from rupees to dollars, we (the country) have already suffered damage," Mr Mehta said, underlining that this was a "huge investigation" and they had made "substantial progress" but needed more time.

The CBI also complained that Karti had not been cooperating, insisting that he had been "politically victimized".

During the lunch break earlier, Karti Chidambaram was able to briefly spend some time with his mother Nalini and father P Chidambaram who had reached the Patiala House complex minutes before Karti was brought to the court.

Both of them were also present when Karti Chidambaram was brought to the court last week. "Don't worry, I am there," the Congress leader had then told his son.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had refused to stop the Enforcement Directorate, another central agency, from arresting Karti Chidambaram.

The Congress leader's son had asked the top court to cancel the summons issued to him by the directorate. "What is the harm," his lawyer Kapil Sibal had argued in the Supreme Court. The top court, however, went along with the assessment of the government that it would impact other pending case.