CBI registers fresh case against Karti Chidambaram for 'facilitating' visas of Chinese nationals after illegal gratification

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday (May 17, 2022) conducted coordinated search operations at 10 locations in multiple cities in the country, including residences of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram in Chennai and Delhi. It also registered a fresh case against Karti Chidambaram for allegedly facilitating visas of 263 Chinese nationals for a power company after receiving Rs 50 lakh as a bribe 11 years ago when his father was the Union home minister, the PTI news agency reported.

The searches were carried out after the agency registered an FIR on May 14 against Karti, his close associate S Bhaskararaman, the then associate vice president of Talwandi Sabo power project Vikas Makharia, who allegedly offered the bribe, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), Mumbai-based Bell Tools Limited through which bribes were alleged routed under IPC 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 477A (falsification of accounts) and section 8 and 9 of Prevention of Corruption Act, the PTI said. P Chidambaram, in his tweets in Hindi and English, said that a CBI team searched his residence in Chennai and his official residence in Delhi. "The team showed me an FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing," he said, adding, "I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting."