INX Media Case: Indrani Mukerjea Likely to Appear Before Delhi Court in March

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday said it might call Indrani Mukerjea, wife of former media baron Peter Mukerjea and the prime accused in the murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora, to appear before it in person in the first week of March for hearing on her plea to be a witness in the INX Media corruption case, in which former Union minister P Chidambaram is an accused.

The observation of the court came after Indrani, who appeared before the court through video-conferencing from the Byculla jail in Mumbai, where she is lodged in the Sheena Bora murder case, told Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana that she did not need a legal aid counsel as she had engaged a lawyer to represent her in the INX Media case.

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on February 28.

Earlier, Indrani had moved the court seeking to be an approver in the case.

She had told the court that she needed to be pardoned and as an accused, she had not engaged a lawyer to represent her before it in the case.

Taking note of the former INX Media director's application, the court had directed the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to appoint a legal aid counsel for her.

Besides Indrani and Chidambaram, the name of the former finance minister's son, Karti, has also cropped up in the case involving Rs 305 crore, which relates to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007, during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also lodged a money-laundering case against the company's founders — Peter and Indrani — and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Mukerjeas are also facing trial in Mumbai for allegedly conspiring to kill Sheena Bora, Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012.