Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Monday, 23 May, extended the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of S Bhaskararaman, a close aide of Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, by three days, in an alleged visa scam case.
Bhaskararaman was arrested by the CBI for his involvement in an alleged bribery case of Rs 50 lakh for clearing the visas of more than 250 Chinese citizens working at the Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL) in Punjab.
He was questioned by the agency on Tuesday, 17 May. The CBI also conducted raids at nine locations belonging to both Karti and P Chidambaram the same day.
The alleged incident dates back to 2011, when Karti's father and Congress leader P Chidambaram was the home minister.
Karti Moves Court for Anticipatory Bail
The CBI said that Bhaskaraman was approached by the then vice president of TSPL, Vikas Makharia, for reissuing project visas of 263 Chinese workers to work at the power plant, which at the time was being set up.
Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram on Friday, 20 May, moved an anticipatory bail application in a Delhi court, in the case.
P Chidambaram on Tuesday took to Twitter to say that the "timing of the search is interesting" and that the CBI had "found nothing and seized nothing."
The FIR Against Bhaskararaman
The First Information Report (FIR) stated that the investigating officer had alleged that Karti was approached by Makharia through the former's "front man" Bhaskararaman.
The CBI said,
"They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company’s plant) by granting permission to reuse 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company’s officials."
Special project visas were introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sectors, for which guidelines were introduced during P Chidambaram's stint as home minister, but no provision regarding the reissuing of visas was mentioned, the FIR added.
"As per prevalent guidelines, deviation in rare and exceptional cases could be considered and granted only with the approval of the Home Secretary. However, in view of the above circumstances, the deviation in terms of reuse of project visas is likely to be approved by the then Home Minister," the CBI said.
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