NEW DELHI: Former Union minister P Chidambaram spent his first night in CBI custody without any food. He asked for home-cooked food but it couldn’t be provided without the court’s permission, said sources, adding that he refused to have the canteen food in the CBI “guesthouse”.

“He remained quiet through the night and hardly spoke even when CBI officials and doctors spoke to him. Doctors asked him about his ailments and took down his vital parameters which came out to be normal,” said a source.

Chidambaram was apparently put up in suite 5 (on the ground floor) guarded by two CBI officials and having as many CCTV cameras. He will remain under 24x7 watch during his custody and the feed will be monitored from a control room on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, widening the ambit of its probe in the alleged money laundering case against the former finance minister, the CBI has started trailing a series of payments made to and from several companies located abroad. The agency has sent letters rogatory to at least three countries seeking details of these transactions.

The CBI’s move comes in the wake of their investigation revealing that Karti Chidambaram, through his shell companies, had allegedly received payments from many other companies which were also granted FIPB approvals by his father when he was the finance minister.

On Thursday morning, he was taken to the economic offences unit on the tenth floor where his formal questioning began during which he allegedly remained evasive. He was specifically asked about a meeting with Indrani and Peter Mukerjea in North Block, which he denied.

Shedding light on how they moved for Chidambaram’s arrest, CBI sources on Thursday explained that on May 28, 2018 a notice under Section 41 of CrPC was served to the former finance minister to join the investigation.

“However, Chidambaram filed an application for anticipatory bail in the Delhi high court which gave him interim protection from coercive action. On August 20, the HC dismissed the anticipatory bail application and an attempt was made by the CBI to locate Chidambaram at 115-A Jor Bagh, his known place of residence. A notice was also served requesting him to join the investigation,” an official said.

“Since he didn’t join the probe, the court of the special CBI judge issued a non-bailable warrant on an application made by CBI. The arrest was made on the basis of the NBW,” the official said.

