Karti sent to 3 more days of police custody in CBI case by court

Karti Chidamabaram, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, would be subjected to further custodial interrogation for three days by the CBI in connection with the INX Media corruption case, as a court here today extended his police custody till March 12 during which he will be confronted with his chartered accountant.

Karti was produced after the expiry of his three-day police remand before special judge Sunil Rana who posted the hearing on his bail plea on March 15.

The court allowed the CBI to confront Karti with his CA S Bhaskararaman who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 16 and has been sent to judicial custody till March 22.

With today's order, CBI will have Karti's continuous custody since his arrest on February 28. The agency still has the option of keeping him in custody for three more days  under the law which mandates 15 days of police custody, subject to a court order.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said Karti's custodial interrogation was necessary as "new incriminating materials" have been found against him.

He said a CD has been recovered from the office of Advantage Strategies Pvt ltd in Chennai in connection with the case which needed to be sent to the Central Forensic Science laboratory (CFSl) for examination, adding that he would have to be confronted with the new "incriminating" materials  found.

However, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is a party colleague of P Chidambaram, opposed any further custodial interrogation of Karti.

"It's tragic for me (Karti). They have no new reason for my remand. They are inventing one. CBI has to justify remand every day and every minute," Singhvi said on behalf of Karti.

It is a ten-year-old case and all the documents are available with them and "they need my custody to harass me", Karti's counsel said.

Before commencing the proceedings on Karti, the court extended the judicial custody of his CA, S Bhaskararaman, till March 22.