Karti Chidambaram has denied money laundering charges made against him.
New Delhi: Karti Chidambaram, the son of former union minister P Chidambaram, was arrested in Chennai today in connection to a corruption case. The 46-year-old businessman has been accused of taking bribes to help a television company, INX Media, get clearance for foreign investments. Sources said the Central Bureau of Investigation suspects that he received Rs 3.5 crore through a company linked to him. A fresh case will be filed against him. The Chidambarams have denied any wrongdoing. The Congress has called it "vendetta" politics of the BJP-led Central government.
Here are the top 10 updates in this big story:
- Karti Chidambaram was taken to Delhi, where he will be produced in court and questioned by the investigators. Senior advocate and Congress lawmaker Abhishek Manu Singhvi will represent him in court. Mr Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport this morning when he returned from London.
- Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was "classic diversionary tactic of the government to hide their own corrupt governance model that is being exposed on a daily basis-- be it Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Dwarka Das Seth Jewellers."
- BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "This is law, not vendetta. If corrupt are being jailed & law is taking its own course, I see no reason why any political party should cry vendetta."
- Karti Chidambaram is accused of receiving kickbacks in 2007 to clear foreign investment worth around Rs. 300 crore in television company INX Media, using the influence of his father, who was then the Union finance minister.
- The CBI said he also received money from INX media to scuttle a tax probe. The company was then owned by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who are currently in jail on charges of murdering Ms Mukerjea's daughter Sheena Bora.
- Last week, P Chidambaram appealed to the Supreme Court, saying he was the "real target" of the BJP-led Central government and his fundamental rights were being violated.
- In May last year, the Enforcement Directorate filed a case against Karti Chidambaram. The CBI filed a separate case against him. The two agencies carried out a string of raids on the houses and offices owned by the Chidambarams. Karti Chidambaram was questioned several times.
- A lookout notice, which alerts airports to stop a passenger from traveling abroad, was also issued against him as the agencies suspected that he would try to close the foreign accounts where he had parked the money from the kickbacks.
- In November, the Supreme Court allowed Karti Chidambaram to go to the UK for his daughter's admission in the Cambridge University.
- The arrest comes just before the parliament reconvenes for the second half of the budget session. The government is bracing for an attack from the opposition over the massive PNB loan fraud scandal. Karti Chidambaram's arrest is seen as a development that can help the government counter the opposition accusations.
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