INX Media case: CBI custody of Karti Chidambaram extended till March 12, ED not to arrest him till March 20

Karti Chidambaram will be subjected to further custodial interrogation for three days by the CBI in connection with the INX Media corruption case, as a court in Delhi extended his police custody till March 12 during which he will be confronted with his chartered accountant.

The son of former finance minister P Chidambaram was also given interim relief from “coercive action” with the Delhi high court on Friday directing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to arrest him till March 20 in the INX Media money laundering case.

Karti, an accused in the case, was produced after the expiry of his three-day police remand before special judge Sunil Rana who posted the hearing on his bail plea on March 15.

The court allowed the CBI to confront Karti with his CA S Bhaskararaman who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 16 and has been sent to judicial custody till March 22.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Karti’s custodial interrogation was necessary as “new incriminating materials” have been found against him.

He said a CD has been recovered from the office of Advantage Strategies Pvt Ltd in Chennai in connection with the case which needed to be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for examination, adding that he would have to be confronted with the new “incriminating” materials found.

However, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is a party colleague of P Chidambaram, opposed any further custodial interrogation of Karti.

“It’s tragic for me (Karti). They have no new reason for my remand. They are inventing one. CBI has to justify remand every day and every minute,” Singhvi said on behalf of Karti.

It is a 10-year-old case and all the documents are available with them and “they need my custody to harass me”, Karti’s counsel said.

Before commencing the proceedings on Karti, the court extended the judicial custody of his CA, S Bhaskararaman, till March 22.

Protection from ‘coercive action’

The Delhi high court on Friday gave interim relief to Karti Chidambaram, 46, from “any coercive action” taken against him by the ED till the next hearing of the case came a day after the Supreme Court transferred to the Delhi high court his plea seeking quashing of summons issued by the probe agency.

A high court bench of justices S Muralidhar and IS Mehta, however, directed the businessman to cooperate in the investigation, appear before the ED whenever required and submit his passport.

Senior counsels Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Karti, told the court that they were apprehending sequential arrests of their client by the ED after he is freed from the custody of the CBI, which is separately probing the case.

The CBI has been interrogating Karti since his February 28 arrest, and his custody ended on Friday.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, special public prosecutor in the case, informed the high court that the CBI was seeking extension of his custodial interrogation for six more days.

Mehta said he was going to seek more time for filing a reply on the bail plea of Karti in the CBI court case against him.

Considering this, the high court directed the CBI court to proceed in the matter without being influenced by the bench’s interim relief order.

Karti is being investigated for allegedly receiving money to facilitate Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister in the UPA government.

The CBI has alleged that Karti received kickbacks in the clearance of foreign investment worth Rs 305 crore for INX Media -- owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea.

The Mukherjeas are in jail in a murder case.

The CBI said it has a recorded statement of Indrani Mukherjea accusing Karti of demanding and receiving a bribe to get the FIPB clearance.