Prosecution seeks 5-day custody to grill Chidambaram

The prosecution on Thursday sought five-day custody of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday night in connection with the INX media case.

The custody was sought by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in the Rouse Avenue court where Chidambaram was brought under heavy security from the CBI headquarters.

During the court hearing, the prosecution said that the investigation has revealed that a payment of $5 million was made by Indrani Mukherjea, an accused in the case.

The prosecution also argued that when he was shown the said document, Chidambaram remained silent and evasive. It stressed on the need to confront him further with more documents.

Mehta has also cited the Delhi High Court order that denied Chidambaram anticipatory bail and called him a `kingpin` in the INX Media case.

Chidambaram is accused of granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for foreign direct investment (FDI) to INX Media when he was the Union Finance Minister during the UPA regime in 2007 in exchange of alleged bribes paid to his son Karti Chidambaram.