Chinese Visa scam: Delhi Court grants bail to Karti Chidambaram's CA Bhaskararaman

A Special CBI court has granted bail to Congress MP Karti Chidambaram's Chartered Accountant S Bhaskararaman in the Chinese visa scam case. Bhaskararaman was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 18.

Earlier CBI had alleged Bhaskararaman was the frontman for Karti Chidambaram and allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 50 lakh in exchange for visas for over 250 Chinese nationals to work at Talwandi Sabo (a subsidiary of Vedanta Group) Power Plant located in Punjab in 2011 when Karti's father P Chidambaram was the Home Minister.

Visa scam: ED opposes Karti Chidambaram's anticipatory bail plea in money laundering case in HC

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday opposed in Delhi High Court the anticipatory bail plea of Karti Chidambaram in the 'bribe for visa case', stating that there is no genuine apprehension of his arrest.

The ED said that the application is premature as the probe has not yet started in the matter and the Sivaganga parliamentarian has not been summoned yet. Justice Poonam A Bamba has reserved the order on Karti's plea.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti Chidambaram, said there were no proceeds of crime here and he is not a flight risk and was also ready to cooperate in the probe.

Chidambaran moved to Delhi HC after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the trial court on June 3. The trial court had dismissed relief to Karti and two others saying that the offence was of a very serious nature.

"The nature and gravity of the alleged offences, the nascent stage of the investigation, and also the previous criminal antecedents of accused Karti P Chidambaram and S Bhaskararaman do not make out a case for grant of anticipatory bail to the applicants or for any further interim protection to them for joining of the investigation of this case as it will seriously hamper the process and progress of the investigation,"  the trial court had said.

The EC has registered its case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of a recent first information report by the CBI in the same case.