INX Media case: Karti Chidambram's chartered accountant Bhaskararaman gets bail

Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman, who was arrested in the INX Media money laundering case, was today granted bail by a court in Delhi.
 

Bhaskararaman, who was arrested from a five-star hotel in the national capital on February 16, had been sent to 14 days of judicial custody on February 26.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED)  alleges that Bhaskararaman, a qualified CA, had been assisting Karti in managing his "ill-gotten wealth" in India and abroad.

The case involves the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media when Karti's father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was the finance minister during the UPA government's regime.

The ED had alleged that INX Media had deliberately and in violation of the conditions of the approval made a downstream investment of 26 per cent in the capital of INX News Pvt Ltd without specific approval of FIPB, which included indirect foreign investment by some foreign investors, and generated Rs 305 crore foreign direct investment in INX Media Pvt Ltd against the approved foreign inflow of Rs 4.62 crore.

The investigating agency alleged that to wriggle out of the situation without any punitive action, INX Media entered into a criminal conspiracy with Karti.