It seems that things are not going to cool down soon for ex Home Minister and Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram. In docks for his alleged shielding of Islamic terrorists, maintaining the hoax of Saffron terror, as well as massive corruption, the lawyer cum politician is now in for more trouble. His wife, Nalini Chidambaram, also a senior lawyer, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with their money laundering probe into the infamous Saradha chit fund scam.The scam, which exposed how the top brass of Trinamool Congress was allegedly involved in minting millions of rupees of black money through Ponzi schemes, along with the involvement of some popular Bengali celebrities, including ex TMC MP and Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty, has now brought Nalini Chidambaram into the limelight as an alleged witness to this case.
As such, for a smooth procedure, ED summoned her to record a statement in connection with the case as well as help them in the subsequent investigation. Nalini Chidambaram, however, refused to comply with the summons. The explanations for her weird step were absurd.
The explanation Nalini furnished was that a woman could not be called outside her place of residence for an investigation. The ‘woman card’ gets played when everything else doesn’t quite seem to work out. Such statements only show that she’s clutching at straws. Even during the proceedings at the Madras High Court, Nalini contended the summons was “purely politically motivated to damage her reputation”, a pet favorite of the opposition leaders when brought to the docks for their crimes.
Last week, however, the Madras High Court duly rejected her petition under CrPC section 160 (police power required for witness attendance), remarking that the exemptions she is demanding are not compulsory and are subject to the facts and circumstances of the case. ED had first issued their summons to Nalini Chidambaram on 7th September 2016 that instructed Nalini to appear at their Kolkata office as a witness in the Saradha scam. She was summoned based on the account that she was allegedly paid fees worth Rs. 1.26 crore by the Saradha group for her court appearances. Not only that, she was also summoned by the Company Law Board over an alleged television channel purchase deal in the same issue.
This is not the first time that the Chidambaram scion has been brought to the docks for their crimes. P. Chidambaram is finding it very hard to keep himself scot free for his alleged shielding of terrorists like Ishrat Jahan, and giving wind to the hoax of ‘Saffron terror’ as the Home Minister. Karthi Chidambaram, though out on bail, is currently accused of massive embezzlement of funds in the INX Media fraud case, where the notorious socialite Indrani Mukherjee is also a key accused.With the ED issuing fresh summons, it would be interesting as to how much longer Chidambaram and his family are willing to avoid the imminent sentences for their crimes. If even one of the three family members is convicted, it would be a huge victory for justice and for the nation.
