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Special Judge (CBI) Dig Vinay Singh, who was hearing the case against Karti Chidambaram and seven others, ordered framing of charges against seven accused and discharged one person named Chetan Srivastava in the case.
In an order dated December 23, the court ordered framing of charges against seven accused for the alleged offense of criminal conspiracy. Awaiting detailed order.
Earlier in October 2024, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with alleged bribery in facilitating visas of Chinese nationals for a power company in 2011, when his father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
In its charge sheet presented before a special court, the CBI had named Sivagangai Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, his alleged close aide S Bhaskararaman, Vedanta’s subsidiary Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL) and Mumbai-based Bell Tools, through which the bribe was allegedly paid.
The agency has filed charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
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He said that other chargesheeted accused include Viral Mehta, Anup Aggarwal, Mansoor Siddiqui and Chetan Srivastava.
The CBI had filed the chargesheet after two years of investigation into its FIR registered in 2022, where it had alleged that Punjab-based TSPL was setting up a 1980 MW thermal power plant and the work was outsourced to Chinese company Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO).
The project was behind schedule and the company was reportedly facing fines.
The CBI FIR, which contained the findings of the investigating officer who conducted the preliminary inquiry, alleged that a TSPL executive contacted Karti Chidambaram through his “close associate/key person” Bhaskararaman.
“They devised a backdoor method to defeat the purpose of ceiling (the maximum limit of project visas permissible for the company’s plant) by allowing the officials of the said Chinese company to reuse the allotted 263 project visas,” the agency had said after registering the FIR and conducting searches.
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 there was no provision for re-issuance of the project visa.
The FIR alleged that an executive of TSPL had allegedly submitted a letter to the Home Ministry on July 30, 2011, seeking approval to reuse the project visa allotted to his company, which was approved within a month and permission was issued.
“On August 17, 2011, on the instructions of Bhaskararaman, the executive sent him a copy of the above letter dated July 30, 2011, through e-mail, which was forwarded to Karti…Bhaskararaman sought illegal gratification after discussions with the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram 50 lakh to ensure approval,” the FIR alleged.
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The FIR also alleges that the said bribe was paid from TSP to Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Limited, concealing the payment under two invoices raised for out-of-pocket expenses incurred for consultancy and Chinese visa-related work. The TSPL executive later thanked Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskararaman over email, the CBI FIR said. Was.
It was alleged that payment against the invoice was made by TSPL through check to Bell Tools Limited and then the said amount was paid in cash to Bhaskararaman.