Visa case: Special CBI court rejects Karti Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea

A special CBI court on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in a money laundering case connected to the visa scam case.

The court on May 30 had reserved the order in the anticipatory bail plea of Karti Chidambaram, his CA S Bhaskar Raman and one more accused in the money laundering case recently filed by the Enforcement Directorate following the CBI case.

On May 17, the CBI had booked Karti in its FIR as an accused number one in the case. The FIR was registered after the central probe agency raided ten locations across the country including the Chidambarams’ residence in Delhi and Chennai respectively.

According to probe agencies, Karti Chidambaram allegedly facilitated visas for Chinese nationals to work in a power project in Punjab in exchange of ₹50 lakh bribe when his father P Chidambaram was the union home minister in 2011.

Karti has already denied involvement in the entire case. “I have no relationship whatsoever with any of the corporate entities mentioned in the FIR in which I have been named as an accused. I’m neither aware of them, nor have I ever been associated with them or any of their representatives in any manner. I say with certainty that I have never facilitated even a single Chinese national in their visa process, let alone 250,” the statement read.