Former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar. (PIB/File)The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has sought sanction to prosecute former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar among other serving and retired bureaucrats in an alleged case of corruption involving INX Media, officials said on Friday.
Besides Khullar, the anti-corruption watchdog has also sought approval to prosecute the ex-secretary of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Anup K Pujari, Prabodh Saxena, who is Principal Secretary in the Himachal Pradesh government, and Rabindra Prasad, former Under Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the case, officials said.
The commission has sent a request, seeking prosecution sanction against these present and retired employees, to the Finance and Personnel ministries, officials added.
During the investigation, the CBI and ED claimed to have found the role of these serving and retired bureaucrats, hence the sanction from appropriate government authorities was required to prosecute them, the officials said.
Khullar served as additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs during 2004 and 2008. She was in 2015 appointed as Niti Aayog CEO.
Pujari, on the other hand, was the Joint Secretary during 2006 and 2010; Saxena served as the Director of the Department between 2008 and 2010, and Prasad also worked during the period under investigation, they said.
The case, which is being probed both by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), pertains to the alleged irregularities in granting clearance by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore.
INX Media was once owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, prime suspects in this money laundering and corruption case.
On May 15, 2017, an FIR was registered by the CBI. alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in the UPA government. His son, Karti, is also under the scanner of the investigative agencies regarding various clearances given to the company.
According to the investigating agencies, INX Media showed a transaction of Rs 10 lakh named against Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd, a firm which is allegedly indirectly owned by Karti, as management consultancy charges towards an FIPB notification and clarification.
It has been alleged that Karti took money from INX Media and used his influence and power to manipulate a tax probe against the company regarding a case of violation of FIPB conditions to get investments from Mauritius.
(With PTI inputs)
