Visa scam case: Delhi court orders framing of charges against Karti Chidambaram
Special Judge directs framing of criminal conspiracy charges in the case involving alleged bribery to facilitate visas for Chinese nationals in 2011
A Delhi court on Tuesday (December 23) ordered the framing of charges against Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram and six others in connection with the visa scam case.
Court frames charges
Special Judge (CBI) Dig Vinay Singh, who was hearing the matter involving Karti Chidambaram and seven others, directed that charges be framed against seven accused, while discharging one, Chetan Shrivastava.
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In the order dated December 23, the court said charges would be framed against the seven accused for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy. The detailed order is awaited.
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.
CBI names Karti Chidambaram
In its charge sheet submitted before a special court, the CBI had named Karti Chidambaram, the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga, his alleged close associate S Bhaskararaman, Talawandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), a subsidiary of Vedanta, and Mumbai-based Bell Tools, through which bribes were allegedly routed.
The agency has invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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Other charge-sheeted accused include Viral Mehta, Anup Agarwal, Mansoor Siddiqui and Chetan Shrivastava, they said.
Reuse of project visas
The CBI had filed the charge sheet after two years of probe into its FIR registered in 2022, where it had alleged that the Punjab-based TSPL was setting up a 1980 MW thermal power plant and the work was outsourced to Chinese company Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO).
The project was running behind schedule, and the company was allegedly facing the prospect of a penalty.
The CBI FIR, which contained findings of the investigating officer who undertook the preliminary inquiry, alleged that an executive of TSPL approached Karti Chidambaram through his "close associate/front man" Bhaskararaman.
"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.
Procedural violation
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.
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"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 alleged.
The FIR also alleged that the payment of the said bribe was routed from TSP to Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd with payments camouflaged under two invoices raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for Chinese visas-related work, the CBI FIR said, adding that the TSPL executive had later thanked Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman on email.
Payment against the invoices was made by TSPL to Bell Tools Limited through cheque and then the said amount was paid in cash to Bhaskararaman, it had alleged.
(With agency inputs)