New Delhi: Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram appeared before the CBI for the second day on Friday to answer queries related to allegations of bribe in the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese workers in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said. "It's their privilege to call me and it's my duty to go," Karti Chidambaram said while on his way to the central probe agency.
The CBI has booked Karti Chidambaram and others in an FIR related to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as a bribe to Karti Chidambaram and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL). The matter pertains to a power plant project in Punjab for re-issuance of project visas to 263 Chinese workers employed there, the CBI FIR said. The agency has already arrested Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, on Friday Karti Chidambaram wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla alleging a "brazen breach" of his "parliamentary privilege", adding that his family members are being targeted by the present government and its investigating agencies by foisting one fake case after another. "I am distressed to bring the matter of grave importance to your urgent notice. This issue concerns my rights and privileges as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)," he wrote.
Also read:Karti Chidambaram gets interim protection till May 30 in ED case on Chinese Visa matter
"Over the course of the past few years, my family and I have become targets of a relentless campaign by the present government and its investigating agencies who are trying to silence our voices of dissent by foisting one fake case after another. Such targeted intimidation of a Member of the House amounts to a breach of privilege," Karti Chidambaram said in his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker.
Karti claimed he has become the victim of a grossly illegal and patently unconstitutional action. He said the CBI raided his residence in Delhi in the "garb of conducting an investigation" into an 11-year-old decision of the government in which he did not have any involvement. The Congress MP alleged that certain officers of the CBI seized his highly confidential and sensitive personal notes and papers pertaining to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information and Technology, of which he is a Member.
"These actions by the CBI, in so far as they relate to interference with my duties as a parliamentarian, amount to a direct assault upon the democratic principles on which our Parliament is founded. I, therefore, urge you to take immediate cognizance of this issue, which is a brazen breach of my parliamentary privilege," he urged. The Lok Sabha MP has denied all allegations pertaining to the Visa scam case, calling the case 'bogus' and a result of political vendetta. (With Agency inputs)
