Karti Chidambaram, businessman and former finance minister P Chidambaram's son, will be produced before the Patiala House Court on Thursday in connection with the so-called INX Media money-laundering case. Karti had been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning and taken into custody by a team of CBI officers on his return from the United Kingdom. He was produced before a Delhi court, which sent him to CBI custody for one day.
Karti Chidambaram's remand will last until 12.30 pm on Thursday when a regular CBI court will hear the probe agency. The central probe agency had sought a 15-day remand for his custodial interrogation.
He will be produced before a CBI court on Thursday, All India Radio News has reported.
The CBI justified Karti's arrest by taking the ground of his non-cooperation and frequent foreign visits. CBI Prosecutor V K Sharma told the court that Karti had been repeatedly travelling abroad, which "confirmed apprehensions" that he would flee the country.
Further, the agency argued that one of the grounds for arresting Karti was the recorded statement of Indrani Mukerjea, former director of INX Media (P) Ltd.
Opposition Congress described Karti's arrest as vendetta and a diversionary tactic by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Karti, for his part, said the "whole exercise" was meant to "politically target" his father.
Opposing the CBI's arguments in court, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Karti Chidambaram, said it was a "bizarre" case. Singhvi argued that there were no grounds for the arrest.
Here are the top 10 developments around Karti Chidambaram's arrest and the INX Media money-laundering case:
1) Karti to be produced before Delhi Court: Karti Chidambaram will be produced before the Patiala House Court on Thursday in connection with the INX Media money-laundering case, according to news agency ANI. All India Radio News, however, reported that he would be produced before a CBI court on Thursday.
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The Patiala House Court will also hear the bail plea of S Bhaskararaman, Karti's chartered accountant (CA), in connection with the same case. The CA had filed a bail plea before a Delhi Court on Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested S Bhaskararaman from a hotel in Delhi on February 16. Subsequently, a Delhi court had sent Bhaskararaman to 14 days of judicial custody on February 26.
2) Mukerjeas allege P Chidambaram asked them to help in Karti's business: Officials said that Karti was arrested by the CBI on the basis of confessional statements of INX Media Limited directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, alleging that they paid $700,000 to him on the instructions of his father P Chidamabaram. This alleged payment served as a quid pro quo for an FIPB clearance.
According to officials, the Mukerjeas' statements were recorded by the ED, which is probing the money-laundering angle in the case. The CBI had only recorded Indrani's statement before a magistrate as per section 164 of the CrPC.
Peter and Indrani had alleged that they met the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram at his North Block office, seeking clearance for foreign investments in their media company after the Income Tax department detected irregularities in these instances, in 2007.
Quoting from the Mukerjeas' statements, officials said that the elder Chidambaram had asked them to "help the business of his son and make foreign remittances for the purpose".
ALSO READ: Paid Karti $700,000 through foreign subsidiaries, claim Indrani and Peter
The couple also admitted that they subsequently met Karti at a five-star hotel in Delhi, where he allegedly made a demand of $1 million, the officials said. They added that this was reiterated by Indrani before the magistrate as well.
According to the officials, Indrani confirmed in her statement to the CBI and ED that a payment of $700,000 ($7 lakh) was made to the bank accounts of overseas firms linked to Karti.
Peter and Indrani, facing trial for allegedly killing their daughter Sheena Bora, had said in their statement that Karti "suggested" to them the names of firms such as Chess Management and Advantage Strategic for the payments.
As part of the alleged quid pro quo, INX Media had made a payment of over Rs 996,000 (Rs 9.96 lakh) to Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL), a firm allegedly controlled by Karti, by a cheque issued on July 15, 2008, the officials said. While the invoice issued by ASCPL claimed that the service rendered by it to INX Media was management consultancy, the "ledger extract" sent by the latter to the probe agencies showed that the payment was made for replying "towards FIPB notification and clarification", they added.
The ED, they said, had seized four invoices of $700,000 ($7 lakh) -- drawn by ASCPL, its Singapore subsidiary, another linked company identified as NorthStar Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Geben Trading Ltd -- after it recently raided the offices of Karti and his chartered accountant, Bhaskararaman.
During the raids, the ED had also recovered "digital evidence" and invoices raised on INX Media Limited, sources said. They added that ASCPL had also received payments "on behalf" of Karti in other cases, where money was paid in "proximity to approvals given by the Ministry of Finance", including from Aircel Televentures Limited for an FIPB approval for the sale of its shares in Aircel Limited to Maxis in March 2006.
ALSO READ: No interference from govt in Karti Chidambram's case: Ravi Shankar Prasad
3) Karti's remand to end at 12:30 pm today: On Wednesday, Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI from Chennai airport on his return from the UK.
He was remanded to one-day custody of the CBI by a Delhi court later in the evening.
Karti's arrest came nine months after the CBI registered a first information report (FIR) against him on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, accepting gratification by corrupt or illegal means, influencing public servants, and criminal misconduct.
CBI officials took Karti to Delhi in the afternoon after his arrest in Chennai. He was taken to the CBI headquarters and then produced before a Duty Magistrate.
In Delhi, Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Anand granted the remand till 12.30 pm on Thursday when a regular CBI court will hear the agency that sought a 15-day remand of Karti for detailed questioning.
The CBI counsel told the Duty Magistrate that they needed his custodial interrogation since he was not cooperating with the probe and was going abroad frequently.
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Karti Chidambaram being taken to Delhi's Patiala House Court, he was taken into custody by CBI, earlier today, in connection with the INX media case.
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4) CBI says Karti could be tampering with evidence: On Wednesday, the CBI justified Karti's arrest in the INX Media case in a Delhi court by taking the ground of his non-cooperation and frequent foreign visits.
Seeking 15-day custody of Karti, the CBI prosecutors contended before Duty Magistrate Anand that he had not cooperated in the investigation. They also contended that Karti had been repeatedly travelling abroad, which they said "confirmed the apprehensions of his tampering with the evidence lying abroad against him and others in the form of secret note received from the Ministry of Finance".
5) Karti not a 'Hindustan Leaver': After the CBI counsel told the duty magistrate that the probe agency needed Karti's custodial interrogation since he was not cooperating with the probe and was going abroad frequently, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi rejected the CBI's claim.
Click here to read how CBI justified Karti Chidambaram's arrest
Singhvi said both charges against his client, Karti, were false. He said that Karti had appeared before the CBI and ED for 30-40 hours and cooperated.
Singhvi said after August 28 last year, the CBI had never issued summons and, whenever Karti went abroad, he took the court's permission. He also rejected the charge of possible evidence tampering by Karti, saying that this was a 10-year-old case based on documents and that there was no question of tampering.
Singhvi described Karti's arrest as "malafide". The senior counsel jocularly remarked that Karti was not a "Hindustan Leaver, but Hindustan Returner" for which he got the reward of being arrested at the airport.
The defence counsel also said that Karti was ready for any condition, like the surrender of his passport and remaining within the city, apart from marking daily attendance.
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Abhishek Manu Singhvi tells Court that it is most bizarre case against #KartiChidambaram by CBI. The arrest is motivated. He hasn't been given a single summon in last 6 months & allegations made by CBI that he is not cooperating, when no summon has been issued after August 2017.
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Sitting in CBI designated court, room 4 at patiala Hs since 2 pm 2oppose Karti C remand but CBI not produced him yet. Hope they r not waiting for a late evening hearing. Why the delay? They landed frm chennai at 120 pm. No cause for this xcept to go to duty magis post 430 pm.
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6) P Chidambaram rushes back from England to support Karti: When he heard of his son Karti's arrest, Congress leader and former Union finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram cancelled his engagements in England and returned to Delhi immediately after arriving at London’s Heathrow airport on Wednesday morning.
Among the elder Chidambaram's engagements was a debate at the high profile Oxford Union on the motion "This House Regrets the Partition of India" on Thursday evening.
Chidambaram looked "extremely distraught", according to an observer. This was soon after he came to know about Karti's detention. Subsequently, he decided to rush back home on the first available flight to support his son.
ALSO READ: Karti sent to one-day CBI custody in INX Media case
7) Karti says govt targeting his father through him: On Wednesday, Karti signed the arrest memo by writing on it that all the allegations made against him were meant to target his father, P Chidambaram.
"This whole exercise is to politically target my father," Karti wrote on the arrest memo, before signing it. The memo of arrest was placed before Duty Magistrate Anand, before whom Karti was produced after he was flown to Delhi from Chennai.
On his way to the courtroom, Karti told media persons that the allegations made against him by the CBI were "politically motivated". He added that he would be "vindicated" in court.
Karti said his arrest was an act of political vendetta by the Modi government. "Absolutely, political vendetta," he said, expressing confidence that he will eventually be vindicated.
8) Congress says this is 'vindictive politics': On Wednesday, the Congress criticised Karti's arrest as evidence of the Modi government's "vindictive politics". The Opposition party described it as an attempt to "distract attention and divert the narrative" from the government's failures in taking action against the likes of Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, and Vijay Mallya.
At a Congress briefing, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala called the arrest the "political persecution of P Chidambaram by a puppet CBI acting to serve the political agenda of its political masters and to mask the culture of colossal corruption and cronyism flourishing under the government".
9) BJP says evidence will speak for itself: Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, briefing the media after a Cabinet meeting, said the CBI would explain the details of the case, and that the government did not wish to interfere. "I will only make one observation that... the nature of the evidence available against the offender must speak for itself," he said.
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said that if the government was vindictive, Karti's arrest would have taken place in the first year of the Modi government. For his part, BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy lauded the CBI for the arrest.
10) P Chidambaram might have seen this coming: The elder Chidambaram had filed a petition in the Supreme Court last week, apprehending the "continued harassment" of his family and himself. In the petition, Chidambaram had said that being the Union finance minister then, he had granted FIPB approvals in the INX Media case and the Aircel-Maxis case in the "normal course of official business".
Further, the former finance minister said that in the discharge of his functions, he had "never allowed any member of his family, including his son, or any other person to interfere with or influence the conduct of official business".
He said that the CBI and the ED could not "harass" Karti and others by issuing repeated summons to them as they were not connected with the FIPB approval.
Karti Chidambaram's remand will last until 12.30 pm on Thursday when a regular CBI court will hear the probe agency. The central probe agency had sought a 15-day remand for his custodial interrogation.
He will be produced before a CBI court on Thursday, All India Radio News has reported.
The CBI justified Karti's arrest by taking the ground of his non-cooperation and frequent foreign visits. CBI Prosecutor V K Sharma told the court that Karti had been repeatedly travelling abroad, which "confirmed apprehensions" that he would flee the country.
Further, the agency argued that one of the grounds for arresting Karti was the recorded statement of Indrani Mukerjea, former director of INX Media (P) Ltd.
Opposition Congress described Karti's arrest as vendetta and a diversionary tactic by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Karti, for his part, said the "whole exercise" was meant to "politically target" his father.
Opposing the CBI's arguments in court, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Karti Chidambaram, said it was a "bizarre" case. Singhvi argued that there were no grounds for the arrest.
Here are the top 10 developments around Karti Chidambaram's arrest and the INX Media money-laundering case:
1) Karti to be produced before Delhi Court: Karti Chidambaram will be produced before the Patiala House Court on Thursday in connection with the INX Media money-laundering case, according to news agency ANI. All India Radio News, however, reported that he would be produced before a CBI court on Thursday.
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#KartiChidambaram arrested in INX Media case to be produced before a #CBI court today.
7:22 AM - Mar 1, 2018
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The Patiala House Court will also hear the bail plea of S Bhaskararaman, Karti's chartered accountant (CA), in connection with the same case. The CA had filed a bail plea before a Delhi Court on Wednesday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested S Bhaskararaman from a hotel in Delhi on February 16. Subsequently, a Delhi court had sent Bhaskararaman to 14 days of judicial custody on February 26.
2) Mukerjeas allege P Chidambaram asked them to help in Karti's business: Officials said that Karti was arrested by the CBI on the basis of confessional statements of INX Media Limited directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, alleging that they paid $700,000 to him on the instructions of his father P Chidamabaram. This alleged payment served as a quid pro quo for an FIPB clearance.
According to officials, the Mukerjeas' statements were recorded by the ED, which is probing the money-laundering angle in the case. The CBI had only recorded Indrani's statement before a magistrate as per section 164 of the CrPC.
Peter and Indrani had alleged that they met the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram at his North Block office, seeking clearance for foreign investments in their media company after the Income Tax department detected irregularities in these instances, in 2007.
Quoting from the Mukerjeas' statements, officials said that the elder Chidambaram had asked them to "help the business of his son and make foreign remittances for the purpose".
ALSO READ: Paid Karti $700,000 through foreign subsidiaries, claim Indrani and Peter
The couple also admitted that they subsequently met Karti at a five-star hotel in Delhi, where he allegedly made a demand of $1 million, the officials said. They added that this was reiterated by Indrani before the magistrate as well.
According to the officials, Indrani confirmed in her statement to the CBI and ED that a payment of $700,000 ($7 lakh) was made to the bank accounts of overseas firms linked to Karti.
Peter and Indrani, facing trial for allegedly killing their daughter Sheena Bora, had said in their statement that Karti "suggested" to them the names of firms such as Chess Management and Advantage Strategic for the payments.
As part of the alleged quid pro quo, INX Media had made a payment of over Rs 996,000 (Rs 9.96 lakh) to Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL), a firm allegedly controlled by Karti, by a cheque issued on July 15, 2008, the officials said. While the invoice issued by ASCPL claimed that the service rendered by it to INX Media was management consultancy, the "ledger extract" sent by the latter to the probe agencies showed that the payment was made for replying "towards FIPB notification and clarification", they added.
The ED, they said, had seized four invoices of $700,000 ($7 lakh) -- drawn by ASCPL, its Singapore subsidiary, another linked company identified as NorthStar Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Geben Trading Ltd -- after it recently raided the offices of Karti and his chartered accountant, Bhaskararaman.
During the raids, the ED had also recovered "digital evidence" and invoices raised on INX Media Limited, sources said. They added that ASCPL had also received payments "on behalf" of Karti in other cases, where money was paid in "proximity to approvals given by the Ministry of Finance", including from Aircel Televentures Limited for an FIPB approval for the sale of its shares in Aircel Limited to Maxis in March 2006.
ALSO READ: No interference from govt in Karti Chidambram's case: Ravi Shankar Prasad
3) Karti's remand to end at 12:30 pm today: On Wednesday, Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI from Chennai airport on his return from the UK.
He was remanded to one-day custody of the CBI by a Delhi court later in the evening.
Karti's arrest came nine months after the CBI registered a first information report (FIR) against him on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, accepting gratification by corrupt or illegal means, influencing public servants, and criminal misconduct.
CBI officials took Karti to Delhi in the afternoon after his arrest in Chennai. He was taken to the CBI headquarters and then produced before a Duty Magistrate.
In Delhi, Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Anand granted the remand till 12.30 pm on Thursday when a regular CBI court will hear the agency that sought a 15-day remand of Karti for detailed questioning.
The CBI counsel told the Duty Magistrate that they needed his custodial interrogation since he was not cooperating with the probe and was going abroad frequently.
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Karti Chidambaram being taken to Delhi's Patiala House Court, he was taken into custody by CBI, earlier today, in connection with the INX media case.
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4) CBI says Karti could be tampering with evidence: On Wednesday, the CBI justified Karti's arrest in the INX Media case in a Delhi court by taking the ground of his non-cooperation and frequent foreign visits.
Seeking 15-day custody of Karti, the CBI prosecutors contended before Duty Magistrate Anand that he had not cooperated in the investigation. They also contended that Karti had been repeatedly travelling abroad, which they said "confirmed the apprehensions of his tampering with the evidence lying abroad against him and others in the form of secret note received from the Ministry of Finance".
5) Karti not a 'Hindustan Leaver': After the CBI counsel told the duty magistrate that the probe agency needed Karti's custodial interrogation since he was not cooperating with the probe and was going abroad frequently, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi rejected the CBI's claim.
Click here to read how CBI justified Karti Chidambaram's arrest
Singhvi said both charges against his client, Karti, were false. He said that Karti had appeared before the CBI and ED for 30-40 hours and cooperated.
Singhvi said after August 28 last year, the CBI had never issued summons and, whenever Karti went abroad, he took the court's permission. He also rejected the charge of possible evidence tampering by Karti, saying that this was a 10-year-old case based on documents and that there was no question of tampering.
Singhvi described Karti's arrest as "malafide". The senior counsel jocularly remarked that Karti was not a "Hindustan Leaver, but Hindustan Returner" for which he got the reward of being arrested at the airport.
The defence counsel also said that Karti was ready for any condition, like the surrender of his passport and remaining within the city, apart from marking daily attendance.
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@ANI
Abhishek Manu Singhvi tells Court that it is most bizarre case against #KartiChidambaram by CBI. The arrest is motivated. He hasn't been given a single summon in last 6 months & allegations made by CBI that he is not cooperating, when no summon has been issued after August 2017.
5:37 PM - Feb 28, 2018
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Sitting in CBI designated court, room 4 at patiala Hs since 2 pm 2oppose Karti C remand but CBI not produced him yet. Hope they r not waiting for a late evening hearing. Why the delay? They landed frm chennai at 120 pm. No cause for this xcept to go to duty magis post 430 pm.
4:23 PM - Feb 28, 2018
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6) P Chidambaram rushes back from England to support Karti: When he heard of his son Karti's arrest, Congress leader and former Union finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram cancelled his engagements in England and returned to Delhi immediately after arriving at London’s Heathrow airport on Wednesday morning.
Among the elder Chidambaram's engagements was a debate at the high profile Oxford Union on the motion "This House Regrets the Partition of India" on Thursday evening.
Chidambaram looked "extremely distraught", according to an observer. This was soon after he came to know about Karti's detention. Subsequently, he decided to rush back home on the first available flight to support his son.
ALSO READ: Karti sent to one-day CBI custody in INX Media case
7) Karti says govt targeting his father through him: On Wednesday, Karti signed the arrest memo by writing on it that all the allegations made against him were meant to target his father, P Chidambaram.
"This whole exercise is to politically target my father," Karti wrote on the arrest memo, before signing it. The memo of arrest was placed before Duty Magistrate Anand, before whom Karti was produced after he was flown to Delhi from Chennai.
On his way to the courtroom, Karti told media persons that the allegations made against him by the CBI were "politically motivated". He added that he would be "vindicated" in court.
Karti said his arrest was an act of political vendetta by the Modi government. "Absolutely, political vendetta," he said, expressing confidence that he will eventually be vindicated.
8) Congress says this is 'vindictive politics': On Wednesday, the Congress criticised Karti's arrest as evidence of the Modi government's "vindictive politics". The Opposition party described it as an attempt to "distract attention and divert the narrative" from the government's failures in taking action against the likes of Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, and Vijay Mallya.
At a Congress briefing, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala called the arrest the "political persecution of P Chidambaram by a puppet CBI acting to serve the political agenda of its political masters and to mask the culture of colossal corruption and cronyism flourishing under the government".
9) BJP says evidence will speak for itself: Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, briefing the media after a Cabinet meeting, said the CBI would explain the details of the case, and that the government did not wish to interfere. "I will only make one observation that... the nature of the evidence available against the offender must speak for itself," he said.
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said that if the government was vindictive, Karti's arrest would have taken place in the first year of the Modi government. For his part, BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy lauded the CBI for the arrest.
10) P Chidambaram might have seen this coming: The elder Chidambaram had filed a petition in the Supreme Court last week, apprehending the "continued harassment" of his family and himself. In the petition, Chidambaram had said that being the Union finance minister then, he had granted FIPB approvals in the INX Media case and the Aircel-Maxis case in the "normal course of official business".
Further, the former finance minister said that in the discharge of his functions, he had "never allowed any member of his family, including his son, or any other person to interfere with or influence the conduct of official business".
He said that the CBI and the ED could not "harass" Karti and others by issuing repeated summons to them as they were not connected with the FIPB approval.
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