A Delhi court today sent Karti Chidambaram to judicial custody till March 24 in the INX Media corruption case, while dismissing his plea for early hearing of his bail application.
Special judge Sunil Rana pronounced the order after the CBI said that he was not required for custodial interrogation.
On his plea seeking separate cell and protection in Tihar Jail, the court said, the jail manual will be followed. It also said that his bail plea will be heard on Thursday as scheduled.
The court denied Karti’s request for home food in the jail.
Meanwhile, Karti’s Chartered Accountant S Bhaskararaman, who is currently in jail in a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate, has moved the court for anticipatory bail in the CBI case of INX Media.
Karti, the son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, was produced before special judge on expiry of his three-day police custody.
He has already spent 12 days in police custody since his arrest on February 28 from Chennai airport. He was arrested on his return from the United Kingdom in connection with the FIR lodged on May 15 last year.
It alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds of about 305 crore rupees in 2007 when his father was Union finance minister.
The CBI had initially alleged that Karti received 10 lakh rupees as bribe for facilitating Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media.
It, however, later revised the figure to 1 million US dollars. The fresh evidence in the case, which triggered Karti’s arrest, was based on the statement of Indrani Mukerjea, former director of INX Media (Private) Ltd.
