Chennai, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram termed the arrest of his father and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram by the CBI on Wednesday night a “politically motivated witch-hunt”, alleging the entire drama was being done for “voyeurism” and to divert attention of the country from serious issues.
“This is totally a politically motivated witch-hunt. This is apparently about events that happened in 2008, for which an FIR was filed in 2017. I have been raided four times. No one in the history of India has been raided four times. I’m the only person who has been raided four times. I’ve appeared before agencies over 20 times, and each time I have spent over 10 hours.
“I was also a ‘guest’ of the CBI, so I was quite aware of their procedures and accommodation. I was with them for 11 days, and still for events that happened in 2008 and for which they filed an FIR in 2017, and in August of 2019 they still do not have a charge sheet, which means there is no case.
“This whole thing is only being done for playing tricks and for voyeurism, and for the pleasure of a few and to divert the attention of the people of India from the serious issues. This is a completely trumped up, made for television, made for a media kind of spectacle,” he said.
He also said that the arrest was made “to satisfy someone in the government”.
Speaking in Tamil, he repeated that the charges were all “trumped up”.
Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was arrested from his house by the CBI after an evening of high drama.
In a series of tweets earlier, Karti Chidambaram thanked the Congress party for its support to his father and termed the “drama and spectacle” being enacted by the probe agencies was for the “voyeuristic pleasure of some”.
“The drama and spectacle being enacted by the agencies is to simply sensationalise and satisfy the voyeuristic pleasure of some,” he tweeted as CBI and ED officials scaled the boundary wall of the Jor Bagh residence of his father to arrest him.
“I am thankful to the @INCIndia Shri @RahulGandhi, @priyankagandhi, for their support. And ever grateful to @KapilSibal, @DrAMSinghvi, @salman7khurshid, for being there with us throughout.”