INX media PMLA case: Karti appears before ED

New Delhi: Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second time in connection with the agency’s probe into the INX Media money laundering case.

Sources said Karti deposed before the investigating officer (IO) here. By the time of going this report to the press his questioning was on. This was the second time he appeared before the ED in this case after he was first examined by the agency on January 18. The central probe agency had earlier summoned Karti on February 2 after which he informed them that he would be unable to depose as he had an interlocutory application pending in the Supreme Court in this case. The ED then summoned him for today.

It is learnt that Karti on Thursday told the IO that he was appearing before the agency “under protest”. The ED had registered the case against him and others in May last year.

It had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report, equivalent to a police FIR, against the accused named in a CBI complaint, including Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors — Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. The ECIR was lodged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).