The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday approached special CBI court seeking custody of Indrani Mukerjea in connection with a money laundering case related to INX Media.
Mukherjee and others including Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram have been booked by ED for money laundering in connection with the deal related to INX Media.
ED has approached the special court in Mumbai as Mukerjea is presently facing a trial before the CBI court in the Sheena Bora murder case. The agency had last month obtained a production warrant from the Delhi court for her interrogation in connection with the deals and money laundering allegations.
The court has now asked CBI to respond to ED’s plea and it would be heard later in the week.
The allegation of money laundering dates back to May when CBI registered a case regarding irregularities in granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media. The investigative agency had registered a case on May 15 this year regarding alleged irregularities in granting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007, when Chidambaram was the finance minister.
The agency has registered the case against INX Media through its director Peter, Indrani, Karti Chidambaram, Chess Management Services (a company of Karti), Advantage Strategic Consulting Limited through its director Padma Vishwanathan.
It was alleged that clearance was obtained through Chess Management, company owned by Karti. Further, it was alleged that he received kickbacks from the media house while his father was the finance minister. This was allegedly in return for the latter’s help in getting the finance ministry to overlook irregularities at the company.
