INX Media case: Indrani Mukerjea gets court nod to turn approver against P Chidambaram, son Karti

A special CBI court in Delhi today allowed Indrani Mukerjea’s plea to turn approver in the INX Media corruption case. The case, which involves Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, pertains to the nod given by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to INX media in 2007. Back then, Chidambaram was the finance minister and part of the Manmohan Singh cabinet under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Congress. Now defunct INX Media was floated by Peter Mukherjea and Indrani Mukerjea.

The next hearing of the case is on July 11. Indrani Mukerjea will be presented before the court by Byculla jail authorities. Mukerjea is currently also facing trial for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora in Mumbai and has been in jail since August 2015.

The CBI had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017 alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister.

In her statement, Mukerjea had claimed that her husband Peter Mukerjea and Karti Chidambaram had struck a deal to swing approval from the FIPB in INX Media’s favour. The Enforcement Directorate had registered a money-laundering case against Indrani and Peter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in regard with the alleged corruption case, but was let off on bail soon after. CBI alleged that Karti accepted a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to bury a tax probe into funds laundered from Mauritius.

In January, the CBI had filed a request to chargesheet P Chidambaram in connection with the INX Media case. Permission was granted last month, but the investigation body is yet to file a chargesheet.