Chidambaram met Peter, Indrani in North Block office: ED report

P Chidambaram had told INX Media promoters Peter Mukerjea and Indrani Mukerjea to "help the business" of his son Karti when they met him at his office in North Block in 2007 when he was finance minister, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) report claimed.

The ED document also claimed the couple, now facing trial in the murder of their daughter, admitted meeting Karti at Hotel Hyat, a five-star hotel in south Delhi, where a "demand for illegal gratification of $1 million was made".

Karti was arrested on charges of illegally facilitating government approval for foreign direct investment in INX Media for financial consideration when Chidambaram was heading the finance ministry. The CBI FIR claimed Karti used his influence as the minister's son to get the work done for INX Media.

Both the father-son duo had denied any wrongdoing.

According to the report, Peter and Indrani had given a statement to the ED where they "admitted" to meeting Chidambaram at his office where he told them "to help the business of his son Karti, and to make foreign remittances for this purpose".

Karti "suggested the names of Chess Management Services Pvt Ltd (CMSPL) and Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL) for making payments after suggesting that he be given $1 million. The report said the CBI recorded Indrani's statement under Section 164 of CrPC where she admitted to making a payment of $7 lakh abroad.

The ED report suggested that four invoices adding up to $7 lakh drawn by ASCPL and others were recovered from the hard disks of Bhaskaraman, the Chartered Accountant of Karti who was arrested two weeks ago.