By Zuber Ansari. Photograph by Azad Shrivastav
Karti Chidambaram, Indrani Mukerjea face to face in connection with INX media deal
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) brought former Union Minister P Chidambaram's son, Karti Chidambaram to the Byculla Jail, yesterday, to question him along with Indrani Mukerjea in connection with the alleged charges of corruption in the INX Media deal.
According to sources, a team of around six CBI personnel escorted Karti to the Byculla jail, who was arrested earlier this week by the CBI for alleged corruption in the INX Media deal. Karti was brought by an Air India flight and was taken directly to the Byculla Jail. The team with Karti reached the jail by 11 am.
Sources added that Indrani, who is lodged on the first floor of the Byculla women’s jail, was taken to a separate room where the two were questioned together. The questioning ended at 3.20 pm following which the CBI left for Delhi.
A bunch of media persons was waiting for Karti outside the airport and before boarding a flight to Delhi, Karti spoke to the press and claimed to be innocent. “I am innocent,” he shouted out when the media reached out to him for a reaction. Before Karti could speak any further, he was whisked away by the local police.
Karti was interrogated along with Indrani Mukerjea, former co-owner of INX Media, who is lodged at the Byculla jail in connection with the murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora. The investigation agencies had arrested Karti Chidambaram following a statement by the accused Indrani Mukerjea, in which she had alleged that P Chidambaram, while he was Union Finance Minister, had asked her and her husband Peter Mukerjea to help his son’s business.
In her statement recorded by the CBI under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Indrani Mukerjea alleged that a deal of USD 1 million was struck between Karti and the Mukerjeas to swing the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in favour of INX Media. According to CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), Indrani and Peter have said in their statements that they met P Chidambaram at his North Block office, in connection with the FIPB approval for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in INX Media.
The CBI has taken the permission from the court to bring Karti to the Byculla Prison and for interrogation along with Indrani. The court has granted the CBI the permission to interrogate Karti with an accused lodged in the Byculla jail and on that order, top officials of state prison followed the order, sources added.