CBI GETS NOD TO PROSECUTE FORMER NITI CEO

NEW DELHI: The government has granted sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute former NITI Aayog chief executive officer Sindhushree Khullar and other officials in connection with alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance given to INX Media more than a decade ago, an official requesting anonymity. Khullar, who was additional secretary in the department of economic affairs from April 2007 till September 2008, when the alleged FIPB clearance was granted to the INX Media, will be first bureaucrat to be prosecuted in this case. Former finance minister P Chidambaram is an accused in the case, and currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

The approval comes days after former PM Manmohan Singh questioned why the Congress leader had been arrested when he had approved a “unanimous” recommendation by a dozen officials, including six secretaries .

According to the official cited above, the government has also given prosecution sanction against former secretary of the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises, Anup K Pujari, the then director in the finance ministry Prabodh Saxena and former under-secretary in the department of economic affairs, Rabindra Prasad. Karti Chidambaram and the Mukerjeas to secure approval from the FIPB in favour of INX Media.

She has turned an approver against Chidambaram.

On Friday, solicitor general Tushar Mehta started his arguments opposing a bail application by Chidambaram.