Above: Karti Chidambaram (file picture)/Photo: UNI
Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram‘s son Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Chennai on Wednesday (February 28) as he landed at the airport from a London trip. He was arrested on charges of money laundering, and also related to a FEMA violation case.
The agency officials stared questioning him within the airport premises and was supposed to be taken to Delhi later in the day. A case against Karti is on at the Supreme Court (this is in a related Enforcement Directorate (ED) matter) and on February 23, the court’s bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, and Justices Amitava Roy and D Y Chandrachud had refused to stay a summon order issued by the ED against him. The court accepted the CBI’s comment that he was “not a common criminal”.
The court had decided to hear the matter on March 6. This time was available after Karti’s counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, sought time to file a proper application to challenge the ED proceedings.
The allegation against Karti is that he issued his father’s influence in arranging a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for INX media. The CBI had said that Karti had received Rs 10 lakh for the ‘deal’ which provided tax avoidance routes.
—India Legal Bureau