Chinese visa case: Delhi HC notice on CBI’s plea against Karti’s aide Bhaskararaman’s bail

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on the plea moved by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the bail granted to S. Bhaskararaman, chartered accountant of Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, who was arrested in the Chinese visa scam case.

Seeking a response in the matter from Bhaskararaman, Justice Poonam A Bamba slated the next hearing for September 27.

The accountant Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the CBI on May 19, was granted bail by a Delhi Court on June 9.

The Chinese visa case is an alleged scam perpetrated in 2011 when P. Chidambaram, father of Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram, was the Union Home Minister.

Last month, the court of special CBI judge M.K. Nagpal denied the anticipatory bail applications moved by Karti and other accused persons in the case, including S. Bhaskarraman, and Vikas Makharia, the associate vice-president of thermal power plant Talwandi Sabo Power.

Karti also knocked the doors of the high court following the dismissal of his anticipatory bail plea.

In the last hearing in the trial court, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had argued that the alleged transaction was from 2011 and the ED registered the case after the lapse of a long time, pointing out that there was no investigation in all these years.

The counsel also argued that the value of the alleged transaction was Rs 50 lakh, which was less than Rs 1 crore, and in view of this fact, he should be granted bail.

According to the FIR, the Mansa-based Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd took the help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get visas issued for Chinese nationals to complete a project before the deadline.

“The payment of the said bribe was routed from the Mansa-based private company to a private person in Chennai and his close associate through a Mumbai-based company as payment of false invoice raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for Chinese visa-related works,” the FIR read.

–IANS