Karti Chidambaram under CBI lens over alleged illegal gratification

CBI on Tuesday morning started searches at nine premises of former finance minister P Chidambaram's son in Chennai and other cities in the country

The Central Bureau of Investigation has lodged a new case against Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram for allegedly receiving illegal gratification.

Following the registration of the FIR, the CBI on Tuesday morning started searches at nine premises of former finance minister P Chidambaram's son in Chennai and other cities in the country.

Sources said the searches are being conducted in connection with alleged illegal gratification worth Rs 50 lakh received for facilitating visas for Chinese individuals. Searches reportedly began around 7:30 am almost simultaneously in locations in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and five other states.

According to sources, the Congress MP allegedly received Rs 50 lakh for facilitating visas of 250 Chinese nationals for a power project in Punjab between 2010-14.

To note, Karti Chidambaram is already facing investigation in several cases, including the one pertaining to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board or FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds worth Rs 305 crore when his father P Chidambaram was the finance minister in the UPA government. To recall, the CBI had arrested Karti in February 2018 but was granted bail a month later in March.

Media reports said that information related to this case was received from documents unearthed by the agency during the investigations into the INX media case.

The Congress party is yet to respond to the search operations being carried out against Karti Chidambaram.