Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has once again come into the news. He put out a tweet today saying that his properties or homes in Delhi and Chennai were searched by the Central Bureau of Investigation. He further mentioned that his son Karti was also probed earlier in the day.
“This morning, a CBI team searched my residence in Chennai and my official residence in Delhi. The team showed me an FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing. I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting (sic),” P Chidambaram said in a tweet.
The “timing” that Chidambaram may be referencing here in the tweer may be his latest criticism against the BJP leader and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s Lakshman Rekha remarks after the Supreme had put on hold the application of sedition law.
After the Supreme Court put on hold the application of sedition law, Rijiju invoked “Lakshman Rekha” guiding different institutions, including the Executive and the Judiciary, and said no one should cross their “boundary”. In response to his remarks, Chidambaram had said the Law Minister of India has no authority to draw any “arbitrary Lakshman Rekha” and should kindly read Article 13 of the Constitution.
“The Legislature cannot make a law, nor can a law be allowed to remain on the statute book, that violates the Fundamental Rights. The sedition law, in the view of many legal scholars, violates Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution,” the former Union minister said on Twitter. “All the King’s horses and all the King’s men cannot save that law,” Chidambaram mentioned in a swipe at the Centre.
Responding, the Union law minister reminded the senior Congress leader of the decisions taken by the Nehru and the Indira governments curtailing the freedom of speech and with regards to sedition.
The CBI has filed a fresh case against MP Karti Chidambaram for allegedly facilitating the visas of 250 Chinese nationals in exchange for receiving kickbacks to the tune of Rs 50 lakh in 2011.
Several properties linked to Karti were raided by the CBI in coordinated search operations spread across multiple cities, including Delhi and Chennai.
The central probe agency had got the whiff of the case during an ongoing investigation against Karti in connection with getting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for the INX media and Aircel Maxis case.
Karti’s office told ANI that the CBI is “conducting searches at multiple locations (residence and office), in connection with an ongoing case”. After the news broke, Karti took to Twitter to voice his part: “I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record.”
They added that the CBI had begun searches at nine premises, including Karti’s residence and two other locations in Chennai, three in Mumbai, and one each in Karnataka, Odisha, and Punjab.
Interestingly, Karti is already under investigation in relation to getting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for INX media.
The home ministry had allegedly cleared illegal visa use for Chinese nationals in return for Karti Chidambaram’s bribes in 2011 under the UPA government. Talwandi Sabo Power Limited was in the process of establishing a 1,980 MW thermal power plant in Mansa Punjab. The establishment was outsourced to a Chinese company called Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (Sepco).
The project was running behind schedule. In order to avoid penal action for the delay, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited was trying to bring in more Chinese professionals to the site. This required project Visas were over and above the ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
So, the company approached Karti Chidambaram through his close associates. They allegedly devised a back door to defeat the purpose of the Visa ceiling by granting permission to re-use 263 project Visas allotted to the Chinese company’s officials. The permission for this devious Visa grant to Chinese professionals was approved by the home ministry in the month of application.
Karti Chidambaram was allegedly paid in crores through false invoices by a company that made industrial knives. The official explanation was consultancy services and Visa work.
Read More – Chidambaram’s Son Booked in Fresh Visa Bribe Case
