Enforcement Directorate allowed to question Peter in jail for two days

Mumbai:  A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate former media honcho Peter Mukerjea in jail for two days — Tuesday and Wednesday — in connection with its money-laundering case involving Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister P. Chidambaram. 

The ED counsel made an application before special CBI judge J.C. Jagdale, who is conducting the trial in connection with 2012 Sheena Bora murder case against Peter, his wife Indrani and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, seeking permission to interrogate and record statement of Peter in Arthur Road jail in connection with the INX media case.

The case has been registered in Delhi. The ED, in May last year, had registered the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Karti, INX Media and its directors, Peter and Indrani, and others. 

The ED on Sunday had confronted Indrani with Karti at Byculla prison in Mumbai in connection with the same case.

According to ED, the accused had siphoned off 90 million Great Britain Pounds (GBP) and this money is suspected to have gone to overseas countries via the unauthorised hawala route. The ED has alleged that Peter and Indrani, the then-owners of INX Media, had bribed Karti to use his influence to manipulate an income tax probe against the company, which is facing a case of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) violation.

Meanwhile Indrani’s lawyers, Sudeep Pasbola and Gunjan Mangala, continued cross-examining police sub-inspector Ganesh Dalvi. Mr Dalvi was attached to the Khar police station when he had arrested Indrani’s driver Shyamwar Rai for possession of an illegal firearm in 2015. Mr Pasbola questioned Mr Dalvi regarding his service in the police force, and the cross-examination will continue on March 12.