INX Media Case: Karti Chidambaram, Indrani Mukerjea being questioned by CBI in Byculla jail

The Central Bureau of Investigation, on Sunday, flew with Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, to Mumbai for investigating further in connection with the INX Media money laundering case. He is being brought face-to-face with Indrani Mukerjea and Peter Mukerjea separately.

Karti Chidambaram, who is the main suspect in the INX Media money laundering case, is accused of receiving Rs 10 lakh from the INX Media. The CBI had arrested Karti on Wednesday from the Chennai airport and brought him to Delhi.

On Thursday, Delhi’s Patiala House Court sent Karti to a five-day CBI custody, while allowing his lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi to meet him for one hour each in the morning and the evening.

The CBI had produced Karti before the court and sought a 14-day custody, saying he was being non-cooperative during the interrogation. The CBI said, “Karti ‘used’ his influence to manipulate a tax probe against INX Media in a case of violation of FIPB conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.”

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had carried out a series of raids on the properties of Karti. He was questioned several times by the ED. A lookout notice was issued against him, which prevented him from traveling abroad.

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In November, the Supreme Court allowed Karti Chidambaram to go to the UK for his daughter's admission to the Cambridge University. His father was not available for comments but he had earlier denied the involvement of his son in any case.

CBI had probed Karti twice in August last year for allegedly taking money from INX media then owned by businessman Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjea with respect to influence public servants in the probe into foreign investments in the company from three Mauritius-based entities.

The INX Media case is one in which irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Karti Chidambaram's father was the Union finance minister came into light.