CBI seized my daughter's laptop, will move court: Karti Chidambaram

The CBI on Saturday, July 9, conducted searches at the residence of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in Chennai in connection with the Chinese visa case. CBI officials said that they had earlier searched the home on May 17, but an area of the house was sealed, as the keys were not available. The keys were with Karti’s wife at the time, and she was abroad. The searches on Saturday were conducted after the keys were secured by the CBI. The agency officials said searches on Saturday will be considered as part of the searches that took place on May 17.

Shortly after the raids, Karti issued a statement accusing the CBI of seizing his daughter’s laptop. “My daughter’s entire uni stint has been peppered with raids. Since the first raid in 2015, the raids have happened during her board exams, prep for @Cambridge_Uni admission & now on her return after submitting her thesis,” Karti tweeted, attaching a statement to his tweet. 

"When CBI searched the residence located at No 16, Pycrofts Garden Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai on May 17, 2022, they found nothing. There was one cupboard in the residence that was locked and the owner was abroad. That cupboard was opened today and there were only clothes. The CBI found nothing and seized nothing. However, the CBI has illegally seized a laptop and an iPad belonging to my daughter. She is a University student.. that laptop contains her academic work. We have strongly protested the action and will move the Courts against the illegal seizure," Karti Chidambaram said in the statement. 

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 14 against him and others on allegations of a bribe 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), which was setting a power plant in Punjab for re-issuance of project visa for 263 Chinese workers employed there. Karti's father P Chidambaram was the home minister then.

Karti has termed the allegations against him a result of political vendetta and the case as “the most bogus” among the three FIRs he has been booked in.