ED summons former personal secretary of P Chidambaram

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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday summoned former finance minister P Chidambaram's personal secretary K V K Perumal to appear before it on September 18 for questioning.

ED deputy director Manish Gupta and R S Thapilial will examine him.

They have sought the property details of his family members, photocopies of visas, passports and countries travelled since 2004.

The agency has also sought answers to 40 questions from him. Notably, Perumal had evaded questions during the last two times when he was interrogated by the agency.

Chidambaram is facing probe in cases registered by both the CBI and the ED pertaining to alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance (FIPB) given to INX Media to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when he was the union finance minister.

Counsel representing Chidambaram in the Supreme Court had earlier said that the FIPB clearance to INX Media was approved by six Secretaries to the government and that his client, being a minister, had merely signed the document.

In a tweet, Chidambaram had earlier said the no official should be arrested in the case as "no officer has done anything wrong".The 74-year-old leader was arrested by the CBI on August 21 and sent to its custody for interrogation. Last week, a CBI court sent Chidambaram to judicial custody in Tihar Jail till September 19.