Chidambaram questioned by ED for 7 hours in Aircel-Maxis case
New Delhi, June 12: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned former Finance Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram for over "seven hours" in the Rs 3,500 crore Aircel-Maxis deal case, officials said.
An ED official said Chidambaram appeared for questioning at the ED office around 11 a.m. He was summoned to appear on June 6, a day after the agency questioned him for over five hours.
The official said that he left around 5.15 p.m.
After coming out of the ED office, Chidambaram reiterated that there is "no FIR and offence" as alleged.
"Another round of questions by ED in Aircel-Maxis case. I remind myself that there is no FIR and no offence is alleged," Chidambaram said in a tweet.
It was the second time time when the Congress leader joined the probe. Earlier, the ED has questioned him on June 5 for over five hours. The ED had issued a fresh summons to him on June 6 to appear before the investigating officer of the case.
The agency recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Earlier, a Delhi court had extended the interim protection to him from arrest till July 10 in connection with the case, after directing him to join the probe whenever required.
The questioning is part of ED's investigation in a money laundering case registered in 2017 against Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED are investigating how Karti Chidambaram allegedly managed to get a clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Aircel-Maxis deal when his father was the Union Finance Minister in 2006.
The ED, in September 2017, had attached Rs 1.16 crore worth of assets of Karti Chidambaram, who is being probed for allegedly receiving kickbacks in lieu of the FIPB clearance.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
