The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the Tihar Jail in connection with the INX Media case. A city court issued a production warrant, on the ED’s request for a 14-day custody, directing the prison authorities to produce him on Thursday.
Mr. Chidambaram's son Karti, who met him along with his mother, told the media: “I came to meet my father. He is in good spirits. Whatever these procedural games are being played are for political theatrics. This is a bogus investigation.”
On Twitter, Mr. Karti termed the timing of arrest “nothing but a blatant and mala fide act to frustrate the outcome of the proceedings in the Supreme Court”.
A three-member ED team reached the jail around 8-30 a.m. following the court's order on Tuesday, allowing it to question Mr. Chidambaram on the jail premises and arrest him, if necessary. It quizzed him for a couple of hours before arresting him.
The ED then approached the court seeking his custody. Accordingly, the court directed the jail authorities to produce him at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Mr. Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on August 21. The premier investigating agency, which may file a charge sheet in its case later this week, has alleged illegal FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approval to INX Media for investments from three Mauritius-based firms.
The permission had been given for a Rs.4.62-crore influx, but INX Media received Rs.305 crore and also violated rules by downstreaming 26% of the funds to INX News without authorisation.
In October last year, the ED attached assets worth Rs.54 crore in India, Spain and the United Kingdom. The money laundering probe is based on the CBI's FIR, which was registered on May 15, 2017.
