After securing 4 days of additional custody of the former finance minister P Chidambaram, CBI is now mulling filing a petition in the court requesting to grant it permission to carry out a lie-detection test of the UPA era Union Minister who is a principal accused in the INX Media scam.
According to the sources quoted by India Today, CBI is dissatisfied with the answers given by P Chidambaram and thus contemplating on subjecting him to lie-detector. Chidambaram is in CBI custody since August 21 in the INX Media case and is accused of misusing his position as finance minister to grant several clearances in favour of INX Media.
CBI had been claiming that P Chidambaram is evasive in his replies to questions asked by the investigative agency. Citing Chidambaram’s prevarication, CBI had appealed in the Delhi high court seeking his custody. The Delhi high court had made scathing remarks about the UPA era minister’s involvement in the INX Media case.
Chidambaram, in his defence, has denied the charges levelled by the CBI and has told the Supreme Court that he has given appropriate responses to all questions asked by the CBI. He reportedly said that the CBI is displeased because it is expecting a certain kind of answers from him.
In order to unearth the truth, the CBI is now considering to request SC permission to conduct a lie-detection test of P Chidambaram, sources claim. The CBI also plans to have an inquisition with P Chidambaram by having sit Indrani Mukherjee face-to-face with him. Mukherjee was one of the accused in the INX Media case who has now turned an approver and named P Chidambaram.
Both Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram are accused in the INX Media scam which involves charges of bribery and lobbying in granting foreign investments worth over Rs 300 crores to INX Media. INX Media was later known as NewsX, it was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee of the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. ED had initiated a probe on the basis of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s FIR. Chidambaram is accused of misusing his power as the finance minister to grant INX Media an FIPB clearance.
