Visa Bribery Case: The sword of arrest hangs on Karti too, CBI will interrogate father P. Chidambaram

CBI has arrested Lok Sabha member Karti Chidambaram's close aide S.K. Bhaskar Raman has been arrested. Bhaskar Raman is being brought from Chennai to Delhi on transit remand, where he will be produced before the court seeking a CBI remand. According to highly placed CBI sources, on Tuesday, Bhaskar Raman was arrested by the CBI late in the night after raids and interrogation at 10 places throughout the day. According to him, Bhaskar Raman was not ready to accept concrete evidence of email and money transactions in granting visas to 263 Chinese nationals over the limit fixed in 2011 and was not cooperating at all in the interrogation. Now CBI will interrogate Bhaskar Raman by taking him into custody.

Karti Chidambaram's arrest feared

Recall that Bhaskar Raman was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the INS Media case earlier. With the arrest of Bhaskar Raman, the apprehension of the arrest of Karti Chidambaram has increased. CBI officials are not denying this either. A senior official said Karti Chidambaram would be summoned for questioning after questioning Bhaskar Raman. If Karti does not cooperate in the interrogation, then he can also be arrested.

Chidambaram's role was important

He said that P. Chidambaram would also be questioned in this case, his role as Home Minister in granting the visa was crucial. But it is not yet clear whether he was aware of the transaction of Rs 50 lakh instead of this. The decision to interrogate P. Chidambaram will be taken only after the interrogation of the other accused.

What does CBI's FIR say?

The CBI alleges that Bhaskar Raman was contacted by Vikas Makharia, the then Associate Vice President of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL). He wanted to re-issue the project visas of 263 Chinese employees working in the power plant being set up in Mansa. The CBI FIR, which incorporates the findings of the Preliminary Investigating Officer, alleged that Makharia had contacted Karti Chidambaram through his close aide Bhaskar Raman.

found a way behind the scenes

Makharia had gone behind the scenes to defeat the objective of the ceiling (maximum sanctioned project visas for a company's plant) by allowing the re-use of 263 project visas allotted to the employees of the Chinese company. According to the FIR, the project visa was a kind of special visa for the power and steel sector which was introduced in 2010. Detailed guidelines for this were issued during P. During Chidambaram's tenure as Union Home Minister, there was no provision for the re-issuance of project visas.

Permission was granted in a single month

"As per the guidelines exemption could have been considered in exceptional and exceptional cases and visa could be granted with the approval of the Home Secretary," the FIR alleged. But in the above circumstances, there was a possibility of approval by the then Home Minister regarding the exemption of reuse of Project Visa. Officials said Makharia had reportedly filed an application with the home ministry on July 30, 2011, seeking permission to reuse the project visa allotted to his company. He got the permission within a month.

The email was forwarded to Karti

According to the FIR, "On the instructions of Bhaskar Raman, Makharia sent him on August 17, 2011, a copy of the application dated July 30, 2011, through an email which was forwarded to Karti. Bhaskar Raman, after talking to P. Chidambaram, had demanded a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for approving. Makharia later thanked Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskar Raman through an email.

Also Read: Big blow to Karti Chidambaram in Chinese Visa Case, CBI arrests Bhaskar Raman, first arrest in this case