Visa scam: Karti appears before CBI for 2nd day, accuses probe agency of breaching parliamentary privilege

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the second day on Friday in connection with visa bribe case, even as he accused the probe agency of breaching "parliamentary privilege". He is accused of facilitating issuance of visas to 263 Chinese workers in lieu of Rs 50 lakh bribe in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister.
Karti said he wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker alleging that there has been "a gross breach of parliamentary privilege by the CBI". "My parliamentary committee papers that pertain to IT Committee have been taken during search and seizure. No one has the right to take these confidential papers," news agency ANI quoted Karti as saying.
The CBI has booked Karti and at least four others in the case related to the bribery of Rs 50 lakh being paid to him and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL) for re-issuance of project visa to 263 Chinese workers employed there, the CBI FIR said. The firm was setting a power plant in Punjab but the work, being executed by a Chinese company, was running behind schedule, The FIR stated.
A TSPL executive had sought re-issuance of project visa for the Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh allegedly exchanged hands, according to the FIR.
The agency has already arrested Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.
The Lok Sabha MP has denied all allegations, calling the case most bogus and a result of political vendetta.
(With agency inputs)