A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest till May 30 to Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged irregularities in issuing visas for Chinese nationals.
Special judge M.K. Nagpal also issued notice to the ED on the anticipatory bail application moved by Karti Chidambaram.
The ED recently registered the money laundering case against Karti Chidamabaram and others in the alleged scam about the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P. Chidambaram was the home minister.
The federal agency has filed its case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of a recent first information report by the CBI in the same case.
Appears before CBI
Earlier in the day, Karti reached the CBI headquarters to join the investigation into the visa case.
A special court had ordered him to join the CBI investigation within 16 hours of his arrival from the UK and Europe, where he had gone with the permission of the Supreme Court and the special court itself.
The MP returned from his trip on Wednesday.
He arrived at the CBI office on Thursday morning to answer questions related to the case.
Speaking to reporters outside the CBI headquarters, Karti said the case against him was “bogus”, and claimed that he had not facilitated the issuance of visa to any Chinese national.
The case pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as bribe 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, for re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers employed there, the CBI FIR said.
The agency has already taken Bhaskararaman into custody in connection with the case.
