The CBI on Saturday questioned Lok Sabha member Karti Chidambaram for the third consecutive day in connection with alleged bribery of Rs 50 lakh in the issuance of visas for 263 Chinese workers in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
The Congress MP who arrived at the CBI headquarters in the morning was questioned till the evening, officials said. On Friday, he was confronted with documents connected to the 11-year bribery scam.
On May 14, the CBI had registered a fresh FIR against Karti and others on the allegations of a bribe of Rs 50 lakh being paid to him through his close associate and Chartered Accountant S Bhaskararaman, a top executive of Vedanta Group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab for re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers employed there, the CBI FIR said.
The agency has already arrested Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.
The CBI FIR has stated that the work for setting up the power project was being executed by a Chinese company and was running behind schedule.
A TSPL executive had sought re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh allegedly exchanged hands, according to the CBI FIR.
The CBI in its FIR has named as accused Karti, Bhaskararaman, Vikas Makharia, Talwandi, a top executive of Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), and Mumbai-based Bell Tools Limited through which bribes were allegedly routed.
The FIR also alleged that the payment of the bribe was routed from TSPL to Karti and Bhaskararaman through Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd with the payments camouflaged under two invoices raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for works related to visas for the Chinese workers.