INX Media Case: Karti Chidambaram Says Never Met Peter Or Indrani Mukherjea

Karti Chidambaram on Thursday termed the arrest of his father P Chidambaram as “political vendetta" and denied any association with either Peter Mukherjea or his wife Indrani Mukherjea, the former promoters of INX Media.

Karti arrived in New Delhi from Chennai on Thursday morning, hours after his father was arrested on Wednesday night in the INX Media case.

"This is not merely targeting of my father but the targeting of the Congress. I will go to Jantar Mantar to protest," Karti said at the Delhi airport.

Karti said there was no legal necessity for Chidambaram to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation and denied that his father had been in hiding. Despite several efforts by CBI, the agency didn't have a case against them, he added.

"First and foremost we are being targeted. There is no legal requirement for my father to be available to anybody... My father is a vehement, vocal and articulate critic of this government. The case has no legal basis, charges trumped-up," said Karti.

"I have been summoned 20 times and raided four times. Nobody has ever been raided as many times but they still don't have a case....each time I (was summoned) was given a week's notice," but his father was arrested within two hours of a notice.

When asked about his association with Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, Karti said he neither knew them nor has he met them.

"I have never met Peter Mukherjea. Have never met Indrani Mukherjea, only time I met her was during the CBI interrogation in Byculla jail. Never met anyone in FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board), don't know the process of FIPB", he said.

Chidambaram, who spent the night in a CBI guest house, is facing corruption charges in the INX Media case. He is said to have cleared INX Media’s Rs 305 crore payment to a firm linked to Karti when he was the finance minister.

Chidambaram has strongly denied the allegations, saying the payments were for consultancy and his son was in no way associated with that company.

INX Media was promoted by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, who are now in jail for murdering the latter's daughter Sheena Bora.