Chinese visa case: CBI conducts searches at Karti's Chennai residence

The keys were understood to be with his wife who was abroad at the time of searches, they said.

New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday conducted searches at the residence of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in Chennai in connection with the Chinese visa case, officials said. They said during searches on May 17 after filing of the FIR, a portion of Karti Chidambaram's home was sealed because keys of that portion were not available.

The keys were understood to be with his wife who was abroad at the time of searches, they said. The searches in that portion were resumed on Saturday after agency received the keys, they said. The agency officials said searches on Saturday will be considered as part of the searches that took place on May 17.

Karti has termed the allegations against him a result of political vendetta and case as most bogus among the three FIRs he was booked in. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 14 against him and others on allegations of bribe of Rs 50 lakh being paid him and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting a power plant in Punjab for re-issuance of project visa for 263 Chinese workers employed there. Karti's father P Chidambaram was the home minister then. (PTI)