Karti Chidambaram on Friday approached the Madras High Court to quash the lookout notice issued against him by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the FEMA rules violation case.
However, the court has asked for a clarification from the Union Home Ministry.
This comes three days after the ED and CBI issued a Look Out Circular (LOC).
In the petition, Karti has stated that the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) cannot issue LOC on the advice of the investigation agencies, especially when the matter is sub judice. “The petitioner has a fair chance of success in the writ petition to quash the FIR. There was absolutely no necessity for the CBI to have requested for a LOC when the matters are sub judice and circumstances do not exist for a LOC,” he further said in the petition.
“Under these circumstances, it is prayed that this Honourable court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Declaration or any other writ order or direction declaring that the “Look Out Circular” issued by the Ist respondent in purported exercise of the powers conferred under Section 10b of the Passport Act, 1967 in the case of the petitioner is an arbitrary exercise of power, abuse of authority, vitiated by mala fides, ultra vires and without jurisdiction and consequently direct the 1st Respondent to recall the LOC issued by the 1st respondent naming he petitioner so that justice may be done,” the petition stated.
A report stated that according to CBI, INX media had mentioned in its records that an amount of Rs. 10 lakh was given to Advantage Strategic Consulting (P) Limited, which was indirectly owned by Karti Chidambaram.
However, Karti stated in the petition that he is in no way connected with the INX group and facts are being distorted to make out a case for filing FIR and damaging his and his father’s reputation.
In the petition, he has claimed that he is being targeted by the Central agencies as he is the son of one of the opposition party leaders.
He was quick to tweet a picture of him with a caption “For all those ‘looking out for me’.” In the picture, he can be seen meeting Congress members in Sivaganga.
On May 16, CBI had raided Chidambaram’s Chennai residence and 13 other places including Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Chandigarh.
The allegations were that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the deal at a much lower value at the behest of Karti Chidambaram. It is alleged that while the clearance was only for Rs. 4 crore, the actual foreign investment was much higher, and this was allowed because Karti allegedly facilitated the deal, according to NDTV.
The CBI is also investigating the money trail and the bribe allegedly given to Karti.