New Delhi: Former finance minister P. Chidambaram, who was arrested from his residence in the national capital amid high drama in connection with the INX Media case late Wednesday, had only two concerns after he was picked up — a clean lockup without rats and hygienic food, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Chidambaram didn’t speak following his arrest much but “had these two concerns” for the coming days while he will be in custody.
Chidambaram was taken to the CBI headquarters — which he had inaugurated in 2011 — around 10 pm, and was sent to a lockup on the 10th floor of the building, said the sources.
The Congress leader and former minister was concerned about “rats” in his centrally air-conditioned lockup, but was assured that it was clean and sanitised, said a source in the CBI.
A six-hour sleep and on-call medical assistance was also promised to him after the formalities of the arrest were completed, said the CBI official who didn’t wish to be named.
“It was around 9:45 pm that the former finance minister was arrested and brought to the CBI headquarters in CGO complex. He was directly taken to the 10th floor of the building, where he was to be kept for the night,” said the official.
“Soon after reaching the headquarters, he was told that his medical examination will be conducted and he will be given adequate time to rest before he is produced in the court Thursday,” added the official.
‘Refused to eat’
According to a second CBI source, Chidambaram was questioned briefly while the paper work in the case was on, but he didn’t give detailed answers.
The second official said the Congress leader was also served food from the CBI canteen, which he refused to eat.
“Since the arrest was made late in the night, he was offered a meal which he refused to take,” the official said.
The CBI also told the lawyers representing Chidambaram that he will be allowed home food, while in police custody, only if the court grants permission for the same.
The events panned out hours after Chidambaram appeared at the Congress headquarters and addressed a press conference, before leaving for his house. He was arrested by a team from CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), who scaled the walls of his Jor Bagh residence and made the arrest wading through his private security guards.
Earlier, after his anticipatory bail was rejected on Tuesday, a lookout notice was issued against Chidambaram by the two agencies.
CBI ‘questions’ to Chidambaram
According to a top CBI officer, the investigators asked Chidambaram “a few questions”, though he remained “quiet and evasive”.
The Congress leader was asked why he did not join the investigation “even though he was aware that he had been served notices”. The investigators asked Chidambaram about his locations between the time the Delhi High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea Tuesday and the press conference he addressed at the AICC headquarters Wednesday, and also who all other than his lawyers he had been in touch with.
Apart from this, the CBI also questioned him on the source of the “new trail of income” that the agency claims to have discovered, which enabled the former finance minister to invest in properties both within the country and abroad.
Also read: 7 politicians with corruption charges CBI and ED won’t raid
What next?
On Thursday, P. Chidambaram will be produced before the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi and the CBI will seek his custody to interrogate him in connection with the INX Media case.
According to the second CBI official, he will be confronted with the facts mentioned by Indrani Mukerjea, wife of media baron Peter Mukerjea, in her disclosure statement. She has alleged that she paid Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram a sum of $1 million to get Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearances in the favour of INX Media.
The Mukerjeas ran INX Media, the television company for which Chidambaram allegedly facilitated foreign funds.
Indrani, an accused in the case, has now turned an approver on the condition that she will divulge all facts of the case.
“Once the court grants us Chidambaram’s custody, he will be questioned in detail on a series of findings by us during the course of our investigation,” said the CBI official.
Once the agency is done with its questioning, the ED too will ask for Chidambaram’s custody for their case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“We will have to question him on kickbacks that he received from the deal and where all the money has been parked. We are trying to establish the entire money trail in the case,” said an ED official who didn’t wish to be named.
Meanwhile, the security outside CBI headquarters has been stepped up to prevent protesters from the Congress party from entering the premises or creating any disturbance.
(With inputs from Debayan Roy)
Also read: Chidambaram dismisses ED & CBI charges in INX Media case as ‘lies spread by pathological liars’
People of the country know that chidambaram is not an only culprit to be accused. Through this agencies are moving slowly and surely towards big fish(es).
CBI and ED should grill him hard and he will spill the beans of Gandhi family as well.
The great man who inaugurated the swanky CBI building obviously did not bother to worry about the ensuring a clean lock-up and hygienic food because of the arrogance he had that only the scum of the society will be held up there who do not deserve the basics. A common man expressing such concerns would be given couple of tight slaps and told that this was no accomodation for a wedding reception guest, that is the culture that has been allowed to flourish over years. Corruption is as serious as a murder, in fact like a mass murder, because the money stolen could have gone to saving lives.