Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday granted three more days Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of S Bhaskararaman, a chartered accountant and close associate of Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, in connection with a corruption case for allegedly helping Chinese people in getting visas by flouting the rules. The CBI has found several emails which they would be investigating.
CBI also informed that Karti Chidambaram will come back to India on May 24 and he has been directed to appear before them in 16 hours. On Friday last, Karti Chidambaram had moved an anticipatory bail application in a Delhi Court. Opposing his bail plea before the court, the CBI had said that the application was not maintainable at this stage. The court, however, observed that if the central probe agency wanted to arrest Karti, the latter needs to be given a notice three working days earlier.
Last week, the Special CBI court had remanded Karti Chidambaram's associate S Bhaskararaman to four days of CBI custody. Bhaskararaman, was arrested by the CBI in Chennai, after searches at multiple locations across the country.
As per the CBI, Bhaskararaman was the frontman for Karti and allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to facilitate visas for 263 Chinese nationals in violation of the norms of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mansa company representative Vikas Makharia had approached Chidambaram through Bhaskararaman and thereafter they devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of the ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company’s plant).
