Karti Chidambaram appears before the CBI in a visa scam case, calling the allegations against him “bogus”

*Paromita Das
Karti Chidambaram arrives at the CBI to testify.

Karti Chidambaram, a Congress MP, appeared before the CBI headquarters on Thursday to join the investigation into an alleged visa scam involving 263 Chinese nationals in 2011. The scam began when his father, P Chidambaram, was the home minister.

Karti Chidambaram was ordered by a special court to join the CBI investigation within 16 hours of his arrival from the United Kingdom and Europe.

Karti had gone with permission from both the Supreme Court and the special court.
On Wednesday, the MP returned from his trip.

On Thursday morning, he arrived at the CBI’s office to answer questions about the case.

Speaking to reporters outside the CBI headquarters, Karti claimed that the case against him was “bogus,” and that he had not helped any Chinese national obtain a visa.

According to the CBI FIR, the case involves allegations of a Rs 50 lakh bribe paid 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 the re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers employed there.

In connection with the case, the agency has already detained Bhaskararaman.
According to the CBI, the work for establishing the power project was being carried out by a Chinese company and was behind schedule.

According to the CBI FIR, a TSPL executive requested the re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh was allegedly exchanged.

Karti Chidambaram has denied all allegations, saying, “If this isn’t harassment, then what is?”