CBI books Karti Chidambaram for facilitating visa of Chinese nationals for illegal gratification
CBI books Karti Chidambaram for facilitating visa of Chinese nationals for illegal gratification
Special teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation launched simultaneous searches on the premises of senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti P. Chidambaram, MP, at multiple locations since early on Tuesday.
A CBI official confirmed searches were on in connection with a fresh case against Mr. Karti Chidambaram. Sources in the agency said the case related to alleged facilitation of visas to some foreign nationals for illegal gratification a few years ago.
Congress leader and Member of Parliament for Sivaganga in the Lok Sabha, Karti Chidambaram. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
A CBI official confirmed that the central agency has registered a case involving Mr. Karti Chidambaram and others, alleging that visas were arranged for about 250 Chinese nationals for ₹50 lakh to work at a power project in Punjab. Searches at 10 locations, including New Delhi, three in Chennai, three in Mumbai, and one each in Karnataka, Punjab, and Odisha.
“I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record,” Mr. Karti tweeted without specifying.
The Lok Sabha member from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu, is already facing allegations of financial irregularities, including in the INX media case.
The CBI operation comes at a time when Mr. Chidambaram’s tenure comes to an end in the Rajya Sabha and he hopes to be re-nominated to the upper house from Tamil Nadu where the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has allotted one seat to its alliance partner, the Congress.
