CBI gets 3 more days to grill Karti; bail petition filed

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the CBI custody of Karti Chidambaram, an accused in the INX Media corruption case, by three more days even as the Supreme Court rejected his plea for interim protection against arrest by the ED in a related money laundering case.

The CBI, which confronted Karti Chidambaram with Indrani Mukerjea, a former director of the media company, in a Mumbai jail on Sunday, presented former finance minister P. Chidambaram’s son before special judge Sunil Rana on Tuesday after his five-day custody of the probe agency expired.

The probe agency sought an extension in his custody by nine days to confront him with “new facts”, but the court allowed only three more days of questioning.

Karti Chidambaram moved a bail application that will be taken up by the court on March 9.

Additional solicitor-general (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, opposed his bail plea, saying the investigation was at a “crucial stage” and the CBI needs two weeks to file a detailed reply to his bail application.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Karti Chidambaram, said that the CBI just wants to keep him in custody by hook or crook.

“I have cooperated. I am not obliged to answer what you (CBI) want to hear. My duty is only to make myself available for questioning,” Mr Singhvi said on behalf of 46-year-old Karti Chidambaram.

In the Supreme Court, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra refused to pass any interim order of protection againt arrest or anticipatory bail on Karti Chidambaram’s petition challenging ED’s summons in a money laundering case.

The apex court sought a response from the ED on Karti Chidambaram’s petition but clarified that issuance of notice in the fresh writ petition will have no bearing on any other proceeding against the petitioner.

Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on February 28 at Chennai airport on his return from Britain, in connection with the FIR lodged on May 15 last year. The FIR  alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father was Union finance minister.