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Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram (File Photo)As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted nationwide raids at various premises linked to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and son Karti in connection with a fresh corruption case registered against the latter, the former Union Minister alleged that the probe agency showed him an FIR during the search in which he was not named as an accused.
“This morning, a CBI team searched my residence at Chennai and my official residence at Delhi. The team showed me a FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing,” he tweeted. “I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting.”
The fresh first information report (FIR), sources said, is based on allegations that Karti allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 50 lakh that was sent to an account of one of his companies to facilitate visas for some Chinese nationals working with a Chinese company.
This morning, a CBI team searched my residence at Chennai and my official residence at Delhi. The team showed me a FIR in which I am not named as an accused.
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The search team found nothing and seized nothing.
I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 17, 2022
“There was a power project in Punjab, Talwandi Sabo Power Project, for whose implementation there was a tie-up with a Chinese company. The company wanted to get some employees to India over and above the ceiling fixed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 2011, they approached Karti who facilitated the same by taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh,” a CBI official said. The Talwandi Sabo Power Project is a coal-based, super-critical thermal power plant located in Banawala village in Punjab’s Mansa district. The power plant is operated by TSPL, a subsidiary of Vedanta.
The case is based on a reference sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the CBI in 2018. The letter had claimed that during its probe against the Chidambarams in the INX Media case, it had stumbled upon evidence that a company, allegedly associated with Karti, was offered Rs 50 lakh by the Vedanta group to facilitate visas for 300 Chinese nationals when Chidambaram was the home minister.
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