The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the stand of a chartered accountant and close aide of MP Karti Chidambaram, in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s plea challenging the bail granted to him by a trial court in an alleged bribery case related to visa clearance of 263 Chinese people. Was. citizens.
Justice Poonam A Bamba issued notice to chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman and listed the petition for further hearing on September 27.
Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the probe agency on May 18, was granted bail by the trial court on June 9. The alleged bribery incident in this case took place in 2011 when Karti Chidambaram’s father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
The agency has alleged that Vikas Makhria, the then associate vice-chairman of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), had approached CA for re-issuance of project visas to 263 Chinese workers working in the Mansa-based power plant. is being installed.
Officials said the CBI FIR alleged that Makharia contacted Karti through his “close associate/frontman” Bhaskararaman.
The FIR alleged that the project visa was a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sector, for which detailed guidelines were issued during P Chidambaram’s tenure as home minister, but the project visa There was no provision for re-issue.
It has alleged that bribes of Rs 50 lakh were paid to Karti and Bhaskararaman from TSPL through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd, including two challans raised for consultancy and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visa related works. was paid under.
Makhriya later thanked Karti and Bhaskararaman over email.
Published on
12 July 2022