Karti moves Supreme Court Challenges Fresh ED summons
NEW DELHI: Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P. Chidambaram, moved the Top Court on Monday seeking quashing of summons issued against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the INX Media case.
A bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra said the matter would be taken up for hearing on Tuesday.Karti is currently under the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is questioning him after a special court extended his custody till Monday. He will be produced before the special court next on 6 March at noon.
Just hours after he was arrested by the CBI at Chennai airport in connection with alleged bribery at INX media on 28 February, he was sent to custody by a special court. The investigative agency had sought to remand him to 15 days’ custody for further questioning, which would include confronting him with evidence.
He is accused of having received Rs10 lakh in kickbacks in 2007 to clear foreign investment worth Rs305 crore for INX Media, which was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, at a time when his father P. Chidambaram was finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government
On Sunday, Karti was taken to the Byculla Central Jail for questioning in the bribery case. He was taken to Mumbai in an Air India flight around 8 am by the CBI, which is probing the case.
Upon reaching the Byculla Central jail, Karti was made to face Indrani and Peter Mukerjea – the ex-directors of INX Media Ltd. Indrani Mukerjea had recently admitted before a magistrate that Karti had met her in a Delhi hotel and demanded USD 1 million in bribe for the FIPB clearance.
While being taken back to Delhi from Mumbai, Karti Chidambaram, however, said that all allegations levelled against him are ”baseless and politically motivated.”
Karti is accused of allegedly receiving Rs 3.5 crore from the Mumbai-based INX Media, now known as 9X Media, for helping it get Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in 2007, when it was run by Peter and Indrani – both accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
On March 1, the Patiala House Court in Delhi had sent the junior Chidambaram to CBI custody for five days following which he was questioned for nearly seven hours by the CBI.
He is accused of having received Rs10 lakh in kickbacks in 2007 to clear foreign investment worth Rs305 crore for INX Media, which was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, at a time when his father P. Chidambaram was finance minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. (With Agency Inputs ).
