Indrani Mukerjea to depose before Delhi court

Mumbai: The special CBI court conducting trial in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case on Friday gave nod to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) application to produce accused Indrani Mukerjea before a Delhi court in connection with alleged INX money laundering case.

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti is an accused in the case.  The ED of Delhi will take Indrani into their custody, arrest her and will producer her before the designated court in Delhi on February 5.

The Delhi court on September 9 had issued a production warrant in Indrani’s name and sought her presence before it on February 5.

Since Indrani is already in judicial custody for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena, it was necessary for the ED to seek trial court’s permission to take her into their custody.

Though the same court had rejected earlier application filed by ED, as the accused-turned-approver and prime witness Shyamvar Rai deposed as witness in murder case.

Initially, the CBI had filed an FIR against Karti, INX Media and it’s former directors Indrani and her husband Peter Mukerjea on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, receiving illegal gratification, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct.

The central agency had alleged that Karti had received money from INX Media for using his influences to manipulate a tax probe against it. The case involved violations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.

Based on the CBI’s FIR, the ED had also registered a case against the INX Media, Karti, Mukerjeas and others under various sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). With the Mumbai CBI court’s permission, the ED officers had interrogated Indrani and Mukerjea in jail last year.