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SC Directs Karti Chidambaram to Appear Before CBI on August 23

New Delhi: A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on Friday asked former finance minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram to appear before the CBI on August 23 for interrogation in a corruption case.

Karti has been accused of irregularities in connection with Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to INX Media group for receiving funds from Mauritius when his father was the finance minister.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that a firm “indirectly controlled” by Karti had received money from INX Media, run by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea in 2007.

Though Karti Chidambaram, through his lawyer, submitted that he was being harassed in the name of FIPB approval and that the main target was his father, the SC, however, dismissed his claims.

Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for Karti, said it had become a norm to target relatives of important politicians in India.

The Supreme Court has, however, allowed Karti Chidambaram to take a lawyer with him to the CBI headquarters, but the lawyer would not be allowed to be present during interrogation.

On Monday, the top court had directed Karti to appear before the central probe agency in connection with the probe.

The CBI in its petition had submitted that the companies controlled by Karti had taken service charges from INX Media to use their influence in the finance ministry to facilitate the media group in getting over Rs 300 crore investments as against the original FIPB clearance for investment of Rs 4.62 crore.

During the earlier hearing, Gopal Subramaniam had claimed that this was a case of CBI’s political vendetta against P Chidambaram.

However, Additional Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, submitted that the Madras HC lacked the jurisdiction to stay the lookout circular and hence it needs to be set aside.

The Supreme Court has now asked both parties to file their respective reports on August 28.

Source: News18