Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Friday complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the recent raids against him that were launched in connection with a visa case.
Karti has been accused of taking bribes for granting visas to Chinese nationals working on a power project in India in 2011 when his father, P. Chidambaram, was Union home minister. Karti on Friday went to the CBI headquarters for questioning in connection with the case for the second straight day.
On Friday, he tweeted a letter addressed to Birla. Karti is the MP for Sivaganga constituency. In the letter, Karti wrote he and his family “have become targets of a relentless campaign by the present government and its investigating agencies who are trying to silence our voices of dissent by foisting one fake case after another”. He declared “such targeted intimidation of a Member of the House amounts to a breach of privilege”.
Karti alleged that during the recent CBI raid on his residence in Delhi, some officials seized “highly confidential and sensitive personal notes and papers” related to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information and Technology, of which he was a member. Karti alleged the material seized included questions and notes he had made concerning witnesses summoned by the panel.
Seeking “immediate cognizance” of the matter from Birla, Karti said the CBI's action interfered with his duties as an MP and “amounted to a direct assault upon the democratic principles on which our Parliament is founded”.
