Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday once again came under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), this time for allegedly receiving a gratification of Rs 50 lakh to help get visa for 263 Chinese nationals when his father P Chidambaram was Union Home Minister.
After registering a case, CBI swooped down on nine premises, including the residence of Chidambaram in upscale Nungambakkam in Chennai, linked to Karti. Sources said the illegal gratification came to the notice of the sleuths during the ongoing probe into cases relating to INX Media and Aircel-Maxis.
Karti, who is understood to be out of the country, tweeted: “I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record.” “My office has just updated on the “record” twice in 2015, once in 2017, twice in 2018 & today,” he added.
It is said that the visas were granted to the Chinese nationals working in the Talwandi Sabo power project in Punjab in July-August 2011 during the UPA-II government in which Chidambaram was the Home Minister.
CBI officials claimed the project needed additional manpower as it was running behind schedule. “However, the Chinese firm could not bring enough people due to a ceiling on allowing work permits of foreign nationals. The firm approached Karti, who allegedly used his influence to facilitate the visas in violation of ceiling imposed,” a senior officer said.
During investigations, the CBI, according to sources, detected a payment of Rs 50 lakh, which is alleged to be illegal gratification for facilitating the visas of the Chinese workers. This is the sixth time that law enforcement agencies under the Union Government are raiding Karti – he was arrested by the CBI in February 2018 in connection with the INX money laundering case. Karti’s father Chidambaram was also arrested in the case.
The searches, which continued for several hours since Tuesday morning, came to an end in the evening. Chidambaram, who also took to Twitter to update about the raids, termed the timing “interesting.”
“This morning, a CBI team searched my residence at Chennai and my official residence at Delhi. The team showed me a FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing. I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting,” Chidambaram said.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala condemned the raids, saying Chidambaram is a “nationalist and a patriot, whose commitment to the country is unquestionable.” “To plant source based preposterous allegations against a former Home Minister & Finance Minister by CBI reflects the lowest ebb in political discourse,” he added.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri suspected a conspiracy behind the raids as Chidambaram is likely to get his second stint in the Rajya Sabha, this time from Tamil Nadu. “The raids are nothing but a political conspiracy,” Alagiri said.