CBI raids Karti Chidambaram for 'facilitating' illegal visas for 250 Chinese nationals

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted coordinated raids on multiple locations across the country associated with Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, who is a Lok Sabha MP.

Karti Chidambaram's Chennai house was among the premises raided by the CBI.

Though Karti Chidambaram said he had "lost count" of the number of times raids had been conducted against him, which he said "must be a record", the new case against him pertains to allegations of having facilitated visas for 250 Chinese nationals when his father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister in lieu of Rs 50 lakh 'bribe' in 2011.

Officials said the CBI stumbled upon this new case while probing the INX Media case in which Karti Chidambaram is already under the lens for accusations of having facilitated FIPB clearance for INX Media.

According to sources, Karti Chidambaram had allegedly facilitated visas for Chinese nationals for the Talwandi Sabo Power Plant, the establishment of which had been outsourced to the Chinese company Shadong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), when they were running behind schedule.

As per sources, the case throws back to when Talwandi Sabo Power Plant was in the process of establishing a 1980 MW Thermal Power plant at Mansa in Punjab. The work had been outsourced to Chinese company SEPCO. As the project had fallen behind schedule, to avoid penal action for the delay Talwandi Sabo Power Limited was trying to bring in more Chinese professionals at the site.

The problem with this, sources said, was that the number of project visas needed for more Chinese nationals was over and above the ceiling imposed by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).