A Delhi court on Friday directed the CBI to give a three-day prior notice to Congress MP Karti Chidambaram if it required arresting him in connection with the Chinese visa scam case linked to Vedanta Group’s power project in Punjab. Dismissing Karti’s anticipatory bail petition, Special Judge MK Nagpal also passed the order to Karti appear before CBI within 16 hours after landing India. Karti is currently in Europe.
The plea was opposed by the CBI, which said it was not maintainable at this stage. CBI also stated that the agency will give notice before 48 hours at least if he was required to be arrested. The court, however, directed that in case the CBI was required to arrest the accused, he needed to be given notice prior to three working days.
On Thursday, the Court had sent Chidambaram family’s Chartered Accountant S Bhaskararaman to four days CBI custody. The CBI FIR said that Rs 50 lakh bribe was accepted from Vedanta Group’s power company for illegally issuing 263 visas to Chinese technicians in August 2011, when Chidambaram was the Home Minister.