Under arrest, 'non-cooperative' Chidambaram hits back at CBI with more questions: Sources

A day after the dramatic arrest, the CBI officials began the intense grilling of former Union Minister P Chidambaram at the agency’s headquarters on Thursday. The sources say that the questioning began at around 9 am. One of the main questions asked by the interrogators was, “who had approached you on behalf of the INX Media?” Another question was, “did you know Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, if yes how?” Regarding the fund infusion, the CBI asked Chidambaram how much money was approved in the deal?

However, the sources say that Chidambaram remains ‘non-cooperative’ during the probe. In fact, he hit back at officials with more questions during the probe.

After the high voltage drama on Wednesday, the former Union Minister spent a quiet night in the CBI guest house on the ground floor of the agency headquarters. Chidambaram, 73, was kept in the suite 5 of the guest house. It is normal for the agency to keep high security arrested accused in the guest house to ensure proper security and monitoring, the officials said.

Chidambaram, accompanied by the members of the investigation team, was brought to the CBI headquarters at around 10 Wednesday night, they said. After a thorough medical check-up by a doctor from the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, he was taken to the room where he spent a quiet night, the officials said.

Mostly, they said, he remained silent except answering a few queries as and when questioned by the CBI officers. P Chidambaram has strongly denied the allegations, saying the payments were for consultancy and his son was in no way associated with that company.