A recent income-tax search hasn't shaken karti or PC.Rivals claim the duo is in real trouble this time.
NONCHALANCE has remained the hallmark of Karti Chidambaram, the only son of former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram. The 45 year old businessman politician could always afford to be so, having grown up amidst wealth, political power and even readily available legal advice (his parents are top lawyers). “What do you think they can do? nothing will come of that! all this is just empty posturing.” These are some of Karti’s favourite responses when confronted with a tricky situation.
Like, when the CBI knocked on the doors of his family’s Chennai residence on May 16. He has been booked for corruption and conspiracy to help INX Media get an FIPB clearance circumventing foreign equity limits in a media company. (Indrani and Peter Mukherjea, who floated INX in 2007, later became accused in the case on the 2012 murder of Sheena Bora murder.) In its FIR, the CBI alleges that Chidambaram as finance minister allowed the Mukherjeas to get foreign investment of Rs 305 crore although the Foreign Investment Promotion Board had sanctioned only Rs 4 crore. The probe agency further claims that Karti, in return, got kickbacks of over Rs 3 crore through the companies linked directly and indirectly to him.
Karti, with characteristic insouciance, brushes away the raids at his home in downtown Nungambakkam as act two of the Narendra Modi government’s drama to fix him and, through him, his father for financial impropriety in his business dealings. Every time a question is raised (invariably by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy) or an investigation is opened or raid conducted, Karti and Chidambaram have defended themselves with the standard format: all the business dealings have the RBI’s approval and are compliant with the laws.
This story is from the May 29, 2017 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 29, 2017 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Propaganda Files
A recent spate of Hindi films distorts facts and creates imaginary villains. Century-old propaganda cinema has always relied on this tactic
Will Hindutva Survive After 2024?
The idealogy of Hindutva faces a challenge in staying relevant
A Terrific Tragicomedy
Paul Murray's The Bee Sting is a tender and extravagant sketch of apocalypse
Trapped in a Template
In the upcoming election, more than the Congress, the future of the Gandhi family is at stake
IDEOLOGY
Public opinion will never be devoid of ideology: but we shall destroy ourselves without philosophical courage
The Many Kerala Stories
How Kerala responded to the propaganda film The Kerala Story
Movies and a Mirage
Previously portrayed as a peaceful paradise, post-1990s Kashmir in Bollywood has become politicised
Lights, Cinema, Politics
FOR eight months before the 1983 state elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a modified green Chevrolet van would travel non-stop, except for the occasional pit stops and food breaks, across the state.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Representation of Muslim characters in Indian cinema has been limited—they are either terrorists or glorified individuals who have no substance other than fixed ideas of patriotism
The Spectre of Eisenstein
Cinema’s real potency to harness the power of enchantment might want to militate against its use as a servile, conformist propaganda vehicle