The Supreme Court will on Wednesday take cognisance of certain documents handed over to it by the Central Bureau of Investigation in sealed covers to justify the issuance of a lookout circular against Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud is hearing a plea by Mr. Karti to quash the circular, which prevents him from travelling abroad. The CBI is investigating an alleged Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given to INX Media in 2007 when Mr. Chidambaram was Finance Minister.
The CBI, represented by Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, submitted that the documents in the sealed covers contained incriminating evidence to show that Mr. Karti held “several” offshore bank accounts and properties. The documents were collected in the course of the investigation. Mr. Mehta submitted the documents were part of the case diary.
“Just go through these documents. I am making the statement that the sealed envelopes contain contemporaneous documents. This will be part of my charge sheet... If you do not find anything, you can say this is trash and throw it away. The CBI is willing to run the risk,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Karti, made strong objections to the CBI producing documents in sealed covers before the Supreme Court. Mr. Sibal said such documents, claiming to be about properties and bank accounts abroad, have no connection whatsoever with the FIR registered against an FIPB approval.
Mr. Karti objected to the CBI brandishing sealed covers in a plea limited to the question of legality of the LOC. “If the CBI wants the court to look at these documents, it should furnish copies to my client,” Mr. Sibal submitted.
Mr. Karti argued that while his one and only bank account was opened in 2016 in the U.K., the FIPB approval dates back to 2008. “Let them [CBI] show from the documents that I opened a bank account prior to 2016. Let him show even one document with my signature on it. If there are other properties and bank accounts, I am liable,” Mr. Sibal challenged the CBI. The court then received the sealed covers from the CBI.
“We will not say anything about the FIR. We are not getting into that at this stage. We will only say whether these documents are relatable to the case or not... We will only see whether these documents are connected to him or not,” Chief Justice Misra explained the court’s limited role to both sides.
Mr. Karti, meanwhile, urged the court to allow him to travel abroad to the U.K. between October 19 and 30 to settle his daughter in Cambridge for her studies.
The Chief Justice asked the CBI about its views on Mr. Karti going abroad for 10 days.
“What is the purpose of this LOC? The question is whether he can go abroad or not. Here, he [Mr. Karti] himself is informing you that he wants to go abroad instead of the airline or airport authorities informing you,” Justice Khanwilkar also pitched in.
However, Mr. Mehta said the court should first go through the documents before deciding on anything in the case.