CBI Seized My Daughter’s Laptop, says Karti Chidambaram After CBI Search at his Residence

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 10^th July. Following another CBI search of his Chennai house on Saturday and the alleged seizure of documents in relation to the alleged Chinese visa scam, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram charged the organisation with seizing his daughter’s laptop.

In a latest development in the #Chinese visa case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (#CBI) on Saturday conducted searches at the residence of Congress MP #KartiChidambaram (@KartiPC) in Chennai and recovered some incriminating documents from there. pic.twitter.com/T2U3LTckNq

— IANS (@ians_india) July 9, 2022

Karti Chidambaram said, “When CBI searched the residence located at No 16, Pycrofts Garden Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai on May 17, 2022, they found nothing. There was one cupboard in the residence that was locked and the owner was abroad. That cupboard was opened today and there were only clothes. The CBI found nothing and seized nothing. However, the CBI has illegally seized a laptop and an iPad belonging to my daughter. She is a University student.. that laptop contains her academic work. We have strongly protested the action and will move the Courts against the illegal seizure.”

 

Yes, my daughter’s laptop is going to be highly incriminating! pic.twitter.com/q3U3FKh8ns

— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) July 9, 2022

According to a CBI source, when the agency conducted searches at Karti Chidambaram’s home in May, a portion of the house had to be sealed because the keys were with the Congress MP’s wife, who was reportedly out of the country at the time.

“Karti Chidambaram’s wife joined the investigation today, and we opened this section of the house. We were able to recover some incriminating evidence and documents,” said the source.

According to the CBI FIR, in 2011, a Mansa (Punjab)-based private firm, Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd, allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to a middleman to obtain visas for Chinese nationals in order to complete a project on time.

A CBI official said, “The private firm was in the process of establishing a 1,980 MW thermal power plant which was outsourced to a Chinese company. The project was running behind its schedule. In order to avoid penal action for the delay, the said private company was trying to bring more and more Chinese professionals to its site in Mansa district. For this it needed project visas over and above the ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.”

According to the official, the representative of the private firm approached a person in Chennai through a close associate for the purpose of obtaining permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to officials of the said Chinese company.

In accordance with this, the company’s representative submitted a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting permission to re-use the project visas allotted to the company, which was approved within a month and permission was granted to the firm.

“A bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by the said private person based in Chennai through his close associate which was paid by the Mansa-based company. The payment of the said bribe was routed from Mansa to the person in Chennai and his close associate through a Mumbai-based company, reportedly controlled by Karti Chidambaram, as payment of false invoice raised for consultancy and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visa related works,” stated the CBI official.

1. Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram’s father, was the Union Home Minister at the time.