Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it was ‘bizzare’ and there was no ground for arrest, leave aside custody
Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister, used to travel abroad frequently to tamper with evidences lying overseas against him and others in the form of a secret note received from the Finance Ministry, the CBI on Wednesday informed a city court.
The probe agency also stated that they were very apprehensive about Karti's foreign visits as he was meeting various people in order to destroy evidences of money laundering against him and others. "Frequent visits abroad has confirmed apprehensions of his tampering with the evidence lying abroad against him and others in the form of a secret note received from the Ministry of Finance."
"Such note has also been shown in sealed cover to the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Madras High Court, while objecting to the foreign visits of Karti P Chidambaram in justification of the Look Out Notice (LOC) issued against him," the CBI has contended.
However, he has vehemently denied the allegations and stated that his arrest is politically motivated to target his father. CBI sources said that the he did not even sign the arrest memo, instead wrote: "The whole exercise is to target my father."
46-year-old Karti, who was arrested from the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning, was sent to 1-day CBI custody by Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand after the CBI alleged that he is not co-operating with the investigation.
Appearing for Karti, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi termed it as a 'bizzare arrest' and that there was no ground for the arrest, leave aside custody. He said that the apex court had allowed Karti to travel abroad. "There are no reasons given for the arrest. It is because you (CBI) want to show it to your bosses that you are doing some work. Unlike others, I (Karti) am not 'Hindustan leaver' and instead I am 'Hindustan returner'," he said, adding, that his client is not a fugitive.
He also claimed that Karti was fully co-operating with the investigative agency and appeared for questioning as and when the CBI had called him.
Before the arguments, Singhvi had sought time to speak to his client for two minutes, which was granted by the judge. The CBI had sought 15-day custody "to unearth the conspiracy hatched and also to find the details of the payments received by Karti from INX Media as a quid pro quo for the influence exercised by him on public servants".
CBI sources said that even if Karti has been denying that he does not know anything about one million dollar, which he had allegedly received for settling the FIPB issue, the voucher which was released from the INX Media had 'FIPB' marked on it.
Karti would be in custody till 2.30 PM today and will be produced in front of the concerned magistrate.
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The probe agency also stated that they were very apprehensive about Karti's foreign visits as he was meeting various people in order to destroy evidences of money laundering against him and others. "Frequent visits abroad has confirmed apprehensions of his tampering with the evidence lying abroad against him and others in the form of a secret note received from the Ministry of Finance."
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