A Delhi court, on Thursday, May 26, granted interim protection to Congress MP Karti Chidambaram from arrest till May 30 in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Chinese visas case. ED had, on May 25, registered a money laundering case against the MP and others to probe alleged irregularities in the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, when his father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
Special Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court also issued notice to the ED on the anticipatory bail application moved by Karti Chidambaram. Earlier in the day, Karti appeared before the CBI at its headquarters in Delhi to record his statement in connection with the case. After appearing before CBI in the case, Karti denied all the allegations and said that he "did not facilitate a single Chinese national" and the case was bogus.
On Wednesday, Bhaskararaman, Chartered Accountant of Karti, was arrested by the CBI from Chennai for allegedly helping Chinese nationals get visas by flouting the rules. According to the FIR, a Punjab-based private firm Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, took the help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get the visas issued for Chinese nationals to complete a project before the deadline.
The case pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab, the CBI FIR had said. This is the third money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram with the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis cases being probed by ED for some years now. The ED will probe the possible "proceeds of crime" that could have been generated due to the alleged illegal activity in the visa case, they said. The accused involved in the case will be questioned as part of the investigation, officials said.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)