This Article is From Mar 01, 2018

For Karti Chidambaram, CBI Custody Till March 6, No Home Food: 10 Facts

Karti Chidambaram, who was arrested on Wednesday in connection to the INX Media money laundering case, is accused of getting government clearance for foreign investment worth around Rs. 300 crore in the television company in exchange for bribes when his father P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister

Karti Chidambaram was produced in the Delhi Patiala House Court on Thursday.

Highlights

  • Karti's lawyer to court: No allegation of non-cooperation for 6 months
  • Karti's lawyer to court: "Kumbhakaran also slept for 6 months"
  • Karti's lawyer accuses CBI of "presenting half baked facts"
New Delhi: Former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, who was arrested in a corruption case yesterday, will be in CBI custody till March 6 and will not get any home-cooked food, though he can keep his gold chains on. The CBI had asked for two-weeks' custody of the 46-year-old businessman, arguing that he was not cooperating with the investigation. Karti Chidambaram was visited by his parents P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram. He is expected to be confronted with other suspects in Delhi and other cities as the CBI questions him. Karti Chidambaram's lawyer accused the CBI of tampering with evidence and attempting to prejudice the court.

Here are the top 10 updates in this big story:

  1. Karti Chidambaram has been accused of getting government clearance for foreign investments worth around Rs. 300 crore in television company INX Media in exchange for bribes in 2007. Investigators say he used the influence of his father P Chidambaram, who was then the Union Finance Minister.

  2. Calling the evidence against Karti Chidambaram "explosive", Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the agency, said several documents and three cellphones seized from him also needed to be examined.

  3. Mr Mehta told the court that two companies - Chess Management And Advantage Strategic Management -- figure in the evidence.

  4. He also cited the evidence given by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who were the owners of INX media, the television company at the heart of the controversy. Their statement to the Enforcement Directorate links the former Union minister to the case.

  5. Senior advocate and Congress lawmaker Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is representing Karti Chidambaram, the agency is making a "deliberate attempt to prejudice the court with half-baked facts". Karti Chidambaram's answer, he said, "doesn't suit the CBI" so it says he is being "non-cooperative".

  6. Pointing to the six-month gap between the questioning of Karti Chidambaram, which took place in August last year, and the CBI action yesterday, he said, "There is no allegation of non-cooperation for six months yet still the sudden arrest".

  7. Taking a dig at the agency, Mr Singhvi added, "Kumbhakaran (the demon god from Ramayana) also slept for six months".

  8. He also dismissed the evidence given by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, saying, "A person under murder charge... and in judicial custody...  speaks 10 years later. Does it need arrest? The statement should have been thrown out because it is after 10 years". Indrani and Peter Mukerjea have been in jail since 2015 on charges of murdering Ms Mukerjea's daughter Sheena Bora.

  9. Mr Chidambaram and his son have called the arrest "political vendetta". Karti Chidambaram told the court yesterday that he was being targetted since he was the son of a politician.

  10. Karti Chidambaram was arrested on Wednesday from Chennai airport, moments after he landed after a visit to the UK. Earlier this month, the Madras High Court had given him permission to go abroad for business.



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