Court reserves order on bail plea of Karti's CA

New Delhi: A Delhi court today reserved it order on a bail plea filed by Karti Chidambaram’s Chartered Accountant S Bhaskararaman, arrested in the INX Media money laundering case. Special CBI judge Sunil Rana said the order will be pronounced on March 7. Bhaskararaman sought bail on the ground that he was not required for custodial interrogation and no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody.

The CA was sent to jail on February 26 on expiry of his custodial interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had arrested him on February 16 from a five-star hotel in the heart of the national capital.

Karti’s name had cropped up in the case relating to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media when his father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was the union finance minister during the previous UPA regime.

The ED had earlier claimed that during the course of investigation, it was revealed that Bhaskararaman had been assisting Karti to manage his “ill-gotten wealth” in India and abroad. The agency had said the investigation required the presence of the CA for collecting vital evidence and other information which was within his special knowledge and exclusive domain.

It had alleged that INX Media had deliberately and in violation of the conditions of the approval made a downstream investment of 26 per cent in the capital of INX News Pvt Ltd without specific approval of FIPB, which included indirect foreign investment by some foreign investors, and generated Rs 305 crore foreign direct investment in INX Media Pvt Ltd against the approved foreign inflow of Rs 4.62 crore.

To wriggle out of the situation without any punitive action, INX Media entered into a criminal conspiracy with Karti, the ED had alleged. The FIPB unit of the finance ministry had not only granted illegal approval but also misinformed the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department, it had alleged.