Former union minister P Chidambaram spent the night at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a cell which he had himself inaugurated as home minister in upa. he will be produced today in CBI court .
Chidambram was arrested after a dramatic arrest late on Wednesday from his house in south Delhi.
Mr Chidambaram was put up in “Lock-up suite 3” in the guest-house floor of the CBI building.
Sources say his questioning started this morning. Later in the day, cbi reportedly ask for maximum custody – 14 days – for his interrogation.
Mr Chidambaram is accused of facilitating foreign investment into a television company, INX Media, in 2007, when he was Finance Minister, at the instance of his son Karti Chidambaram, who allegedly received kickbacks. Sources say he will be confronted with files of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which Mr Chidambaram headed as minister.
Mr Chidambaram and his son were named by INX co-founders Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who are currently in jail in connection with the murder of Indrani Mukerjea’s daughter Sheena Bora. Mr Chidambaram has denied the allegations, saying the case is a political witch-hunt by the BJP-led government.
Sources say the CBI may also confront the former minister with Indrani Mukherjea’s statement about meeting him over the deal.
In his petition before the top court on Wednesday, the former minister argued that his antecedents are “impeccable” and there is no possibility of him “fleeing from justice”. But his petition was not heard on technical grounds.
The Congress has rallied behind the senior leader, with Rahul Gandhi calling the investigative agencies’ pursuit of Mr Chidambaram a “disgraceful misuse of power” and his sister Priyanka Gandhi saying the former minister was being “shamefully hunted down”.
