CBI raids Chidambaram’s son Karti
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched the homes and offices of the son of former finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday as part of a wider probe into suspected misconduct in government approvals for foreign investments.
The investigating agency also formally named Chidambaram’s son Karti as one of those accused of criminal conspiracy, cheating, seeking to influence a public servant and criminal misconduct in a 2007 sale of stakes in a company called INX Media to offshore entities.
Also named in the case were then INX promoter Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, both of whom are now on trial for the murder of her daughter from a previous relationship.
Hindustan Times has a copy of the CBI first information report (FIR).
The dawn raids saw officers swoop down on locations across New Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai andformer finance minister’s hometown Chennai, escalating pressure on the senior Congress leader who has been a vocal opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The move against the Chidambarams is the latest action against opposition politicians, who say the government is using investigating agencies as part of its “politics of vendetta”.
On Tuesday, the CBI also searched the sprawling Mumbai mansion of the Mukerjeas, once a fixture on the city’s party circuit. The CBI investigation relates to foreign investments received by INX in 2007-08.
The investigation is part of a wider investigation into whether Chidambaram misused his office as finance minister in the previous government to secure payoffs for his son in exchange of foreign investments approvals.
Chidambaram, 71, and his son Karti deny any wrongdoing.
“The government is using CBI and other agencies to target my son and his friends. The government wants to silence my voice,” Chidambaram said in a statement shortly after the raids began.
“The government wants to stop me from writing, as it has tried to do with leaders of opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs and civil society members.”
The former finance minister writes a weekly column in a prominent English daily.
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The Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted raids and surveys on at least 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas in connection with charges of benami deals worth ₹1,000 crore linked to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and others.
Officials said the department began raiding the premises of some prominent businessmen and real estate agents in Delhi, Gurgaon, Rewari and few others early in the morning.
Reacting to the raids, the RJD chief challenged the BJP, saying the party doesn’t have the courage to suppress his voice while asking for details of the 22 locations where the raids were conducted.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday afternoon, Lalu also said he would not be cowed down by threats. The searches were also conducted on the premises of the son of PC Gupta , an RJD MP, and some more businessmen. PTI
A 22-year-old Dalit student, who committed suicide last week in Rajasthan’s Sirohi district, accused the principal of his college of harassing him and threatening to fail him in his second-year final examination in a three-page suicide note.
Ravindra, a second-year BSc student at Saroj Lalji Mehrotra Global Nursing College in Abu Road town, hanged himself on May 12 inside his room.
“I told ma’am she is harassing me and I would die … She said my death won’t make any difference to her. Now, I just want to die,” Ravindra wrote in the suicide note referring to Geetha Venugopal, principal of the college.
“I will ruin you, she said to me,” Ravindra, who repeated his second year and recently gave his exams, wrote.
Police have registered a case of abetment to suicide and filed charges under the scheduled tribe/scheduled caste act against Venugopal and college director Pratap Midha at the Abu Road Sadar police station. ››P2