INX case: Fmr Niti Aayog CEO, ex-MSME secy may face CBI probe

NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has held that there is a prima facie case for prosecuting four retired and serving bureaucrats, including former Niti Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar and ex-MSME secretary Anup K Pujari, in an alleged case of corruption involving INX Media.
Khullar and Pujari served in the department of economic affairs (DEA) under then finance minister P Chidambaram. Sources said the CVC, based on comments given by the DEA and the CBI on a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) request seeking the vigilance body's opinion, has okayed grant of sanction for prosecution.
The two serving officers are current principal secretary in the Himachal Pradesh government, Prabodh Saxena, and former under-secretary in the DEA, Rabindra Prasad.

Sources connected with the probe said the CVC go ahead has cleared the decks for the CBI to probe the alleged role of the four retired and serving officials in granting a foreign investment promotion board nod to the FDI proposal of INX media while not approving a 26% "downstream investment" in INX News Pvt Ltd as required by FIPB regulations.