INX Media case: CBI questions Karti Chidambaram, Indrani Mukerjea at Byculla Jail

Sources added that Indrani, who is lodged on the first floor of the Byculla women’s jail, was taken to a separate room where the two were questioned together. The questioning ended at 3.20 pm following which the CBI left for Delhi.

Before boarding a flight to Delhi, Karti spoke to the press and said that he was innocent. “I am innocent,” he shouted out when the media contingent stationed at the airport reached out to him for a reaction. Before Karti could speak any further, he was whisked away by the local police.

“Karti was interrogated along with Indrani Mukerjea, former co-owner of INX Media who is lodged at the Byculla jail in connection with the murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora,” sources said.

The investigation agencies had arrested Karti Chidambaram following a statement by accused Indrani Mukerjea in which she had alleged that P Chidambaram, while he was Union Finance Minister, had asked her and her husband Peter Mukerjea to help his son’s business. In her statement recorded by the CBI under Section 164 of the CrPC, Indrani Mukerjea, alleged that a deal of USD 1 million was struck between Karti and the Mukerjeas to swing FIPB approval in favour of INX Media. According to CBI and ED, Indrani and Peter have said in their statements that they met P Chidambaram at his North Block office in connection with the FIPB approval for FDI in INX Media.

Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), Maharashtra Police, Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay confirmed that Karti was brought to Byculla Jail for investigation. “A court has granted the CBI the permission to interrogate Karti with an accused lodged at Byculla jail and we are following the order,” Upadhyay told The Indian Express.