New Delhi: All the six bureaucrats who were part of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) that granted approval to INX Media will appear before a special CBI court here on Friday.
Special CBI judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar issued summons to them and other accused while taking cognizance on the charge-sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The six FIPB-linked bureaucrats who would appear before the court are: former Section Officer Ajeet Kumar Dungdung, ex-Under secretary Rabindra Prasad, then OSD in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Pradeep Kumar Bagga, then Director Prabodh Saxena, former Joint Secretary (Foreign Trade) Anup K. Pujari and ex-DEA Additional Secretary Sindhushree Khullar.
The agency filed the charge-sheet against 14 accused — P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, his accountant S. Bhaskaran, former INX Media director Peter Mukerjea, INX Media, INX News, Chess Management Services, ASCPL and six bureaucrats.
Of the charge-sheeted, four are companies, six public servants and rest private persons. Indrani Mukerjea, former director at INX Media, has been pardoned on turning an approver in the case.
The CBI informed the court that it had necessary sanctions to prosecute all the accused, including the public servants in the case.
The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and for taking gratification and criminal misconduct of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, Peter Mukerjea are on bail. Bhaskaran is on anticipatory bail. The accused public servants were never arrested, the agency told the court.
In August, P Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the Rs 305 crore FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007 when he was the Finance Minister.