A special court here on Thursday allowed former director of INX Media, Indrani Mukerjea, to turn approver in a corruption case against the company.
She had moved an application to turn approver seeking pardon and promising help in the probe. Following the court’s approval, she will now record her statement before a Metropolitan Magistrate which will be kept in a sealed cover to be opened in the trial.
Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram is also an accused in the case.
Ms. Mukerjea is at present lodged in Mumbai’s Byculla jail along with her husband Peter Mukherjea in connection with the murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora. They are facing trial for allegedly conspiring to kill Bora, Ms. Mukerjea’s daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012.
The CBI had last year arrested Mr. Karti Chidambaram in the INX case. He was later granted bail.
The probe agency had in 2017 lodged an FIR in the case alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s (FIPB) clearance to the INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of ₹305 crore in 2007 when P. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.
Later, the ED lodged a money laundering case in the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The probe agency’s allegation against Mr. Karti Chidambaram is that he demanded and accepted $1 million for scuttling a possible probe against INX Media for violation of FIPB’s conditions in 2007.
It is alleged that Mr. Karti Chidambaram exercised his influence over the FIPB unit officials to help INX Media wriggle out of a probe proposed by the Department of Revenue into an alleged unapproved 26% down-streaming of foreign investments in INX News, received from three Mauritius-based companies in 2007.
INX Media had got FIPB approval for ₹4.62-crore but received ₹305 crore by selling its shares at a premium of ₹800 per unit. For down-streaming of funds, the company re-applied as advised by the FIPB and got a separate approval later, allegedly by concealing that it had already been made.