Court Orders Charges Against Karti Chidambaram In Chinese Visa Case

In connection with the Chinese visa scam case, a Delhi court on Tuesday ordered the filing of charges against Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram and six other individuals.

Dig Vinay Singh, a Special Judge (CBI) presiding over the case against Karti Chidambaram and seven other individuals, ordered the framing of charges against seven of the defendants and released Chetan Shrivastava.

The court mandated the filing of charges against the seven accused for the alleged crime of criminal conspiracy in an order dated December 23. We are awaiting the exact order.

Earlier in October 2024, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with alleged bribery in facilitating visas of Chinese nationals for a power company in 2011 when his father, P Chidambaram, was the Union Home Minister. The CBI cited Sivaganga Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, his purported close accomplice S Bhaskararaman, Talawandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), a Vedanta subsidiary, and Mumbai-based Bell Tools as the suspected conduits for bribery in its charge sheet presented before a special court.

In accordance with the Indian Penal Code and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency has filed allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery.

After two years of investigation into the 2022 FIR, which claimed that the Punjab-based TSPL was constructing a 1980 MW thermal power plant and that the work was being contracted out to the Chinese firm Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO), the CBI submitted the charge sheet.

The project was purportedly behind schedule, and the corporation was in danger of being fined.

An official of TSPL allegedly contacted Karti Chidambaram through his "close associate/front man" Bhaskararaman, according to the CBI FIR, which included the conclusions of the investigating officer who conducted the preliminary investigation.

"They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of the ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company's plant) by granting permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company's officials," the agency had said after the registration of FIR and searches.

Project visas were a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sector, for which detailed guidelines were issued during P Chidambaram's tenure as home minister, but there was no provision for the re-issue of project visas, the FIR had alleged.

A TSPL executive allegedly submitted a letter to the home ministry on July 30, 2011, seeking approval to reuse the project visas allotted to his company, which was approved within a month and the permission was issued, the FIR had alleged.

"On August 17, 2011, the executive, on being directed by Bhaskararaman, sent a copy of the above letter dated July 30, 2011, to him through e-mail, which was forwarded to Karti... Bhakaskararaman, after discussion with P Chidambaram, the then home minister, demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh for ensuring the approval," the FIR had alleged.

The CBI FIR further claimed that the payment of the aforementioned bribe was made from TSP to Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman via Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd. The payments were concealed under two invoices raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for work related to Chinese visas, and the TSPL executive subsequently thanked Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman via email.

According to the allegations, TSPL paid Bell Tools Limited by cheque for the invoices, and Bhaskararaman received the money in cash.