Karti Chidambaram, arrested in the INX Media corruption case, told the special CBI court on Friday that he has been kept awake at night and allowed to sleep only 3-4 hours. Karti, son of former Union minister P. Chidambaram, was produced in the court after his police custody ended on Friday.
The CBI pressed for an extended custody of another six days saying that it needs to confront the accused with fresh material that has emerged in the investigations into the case.
After hearing the arguments, the court extended the custody of Karti by three more days till March 12. The court said that the agency has been able to give “sufficient ground and justified reason” to uphold its contention. The CBI has contended that “for the purpose of further and complete investigation, the further custody of the accused is necessary to ensure continuity and speed up investigation.”
The agency is now preparing to confront Karti with his chartered account and co-accused S. Bhaskararaman, who is lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi. Bhaskaraman was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 16 and has been sent to judicial custody till March 22.
The move to confront the duo has come after the court granted permission to the CBI and directed the Tihar jail authorities to assist the agency in the same.
CBI has told the court that both Karti and Bhaskararaman are the main conspirators in the INX media case and need to be confronted with each other when new facts and evidence have emerged in the case.
CBI sources said that the newly recovered material is so impeccable that the accused may not be able to deny it and may assist the agency in further investigations. The CBI informed the court that it has recovered certain documents and a CD from Advantage Strategic Private Limited (ASPL), a company allegedly controlled by Karti indirectly. The fresh recovery has been made following Karti’s questioning by the CBI. The CD is being sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for forensic examination.
Karti’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, however, vehemently opposed the six-day custody sought by the CBI arguing that the new material was only the “address” of the ASPL, based in Chennai, which had already been shared with the IO on July 17, 2017 through a letter. The counsel argued that the CBI is only harassing the accused by seeking further custody and does not have any new material to confront him with.
Karti’s counsel has also alleged that he was kept in a separate room during his custody remand of the CBI starting from February 28 to March 6. However, on the intervening night of March 6 and March 7, he was shifted to a cell where guards were also sleeping the same night. Speaking on Karti's behalf, Singhvi told the court that Karti was kept awake till 2.30 pm at night and again woken up at 6 am and asked the same questions. As a result, the accused’s blood pressure shot up and he faced medical problems, he said.
On its part, the agency assured that Karti will be shifted back to the room where he was kept earlier and said that everything else will be taken care of.
The accused, meanwhile, wanted ten minutes with his parents before he was taken to custody again and the court granted permission. Karti spoke to his father Chidambaram and his mother Nalini Chidambaram who were present in court through the hearing. Karti was able to speak to them for ten minutes in front of the investigating officer before taken away by the agency sleuths.
It was a day of highs and lows for Karti. Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court granted him interim relief from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate till March 20.
Reacting to the CBI special court's order extending the custody of Karti, CBI sources said the agency is trying to reach to the bottom of the conspiracy before it takes the next step of questioning public servants who may have helped the duo to circumvent the FIPB rules to favour INX media. This may involve questioning of Chidambaram himself, they said.
Meanwhile, Karti’s bail hearing is now slated for March 15. After the High Court order, Karti cannot be arrested by the ED even if the CBI court grants him bail on March 15. However, the ED is planning to appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC order.