CBI to summon Karti, others for alleged FDI irregularities

NEW DELHI: The CBI will soon send summons to Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, for alleged irregularities relating to foreign direct investments received by INX Media in 2007, owned by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who are in jail for the murder of Sheena Bora.

According to sources in the CBI, besides Karti, other people and entities named in the FIR will also be summoned.

The CBI has alleged that Karti used his influence in the finance ministry to help INX Media get an approval to receive foreign investments from three Mauritius-based investors.

On Monday, the CBI filed an FIR against Karti, INX Media Pvt Ltd through its director Indrani, INX News Pvt Ltd through its director Peter, Advance Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL) through its director Padma Vishwanathan and other officials of the ministry.

The investigation agency said INX Media allegedly received approval from (FIPB) for ₹4.62 crore investment but received ₹305 crore by sale of shares at a premium of ₹800 per share instead of ₹10 as mentioned by the media group in their application. Moreover, the company went against the decision of the FIPB and made a downstream investment of 26% of its capital share. FIPB had asked INX to seek permission from the ministry of information and broadcasting before making investments, said Vineet Vinayak, joint director of the CBI.

The CBI alleged that after the income tax department sought clarifications from FIPB, INX Media roped in Karti’s Chess Management Services Pvt Ltd “to get the issues resolved” by influencing officials of the FIPB.

The officials said the accused, including Karti will be examined in the same matter and summons asking them to be present in the agency headquarters here will be sent in the next few days.

Agency sources also told HT that other than those booked by the CBI on Monday, individuals classified as “person of interest” will be examined by the probe agency.