Current affairs

'The timing of the search is interesting': P Chidambaram reacts to CBI raid at his residence in Chennai!

By alagu, 17 May, 2022
Chidambaram, CBI, Chennai, Congress

In the midst of raids conducted by the CBI at the places connected to him after filing a case against his son, former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram has reacted to the raids, which had drawn huge attention. The raids are connected after filing a fresh case against Karti Chidambaram in connection with his involvement in facilitating visa after receiving a bribe. 

The development from the raids, which are being conducted with huge police protection, have been making headlines across the country. The sleuths of the CBI had stormed the places linked to Chidambaram on Tuesday - May 17 and for the first time since the raids began, P Chidambaram had reacted to the searches and said that the timing of the search is interesting. He also cited that the search team has found nothing in the search at his residence in Chennai. 

Taking to Twitter, the former Union Minister wrote, "This morning, a CBI team searched my residence at Chennai and my official residence at Delhi. The team showed me an FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing. I may point out that the timing of the search is interesting." The reports say that his notion of 'timing of the search is interesting' has come when he has been eyeing getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu as his current term ends soon. 

According to reports, the case has been registered against Karti over certain foreign remittances to companies linked to him between 2010 and 2014. Speaking to PTI, the officials in the search have said that the case was registered after allegations that Karti facilitated visas of 250 Chinese nationals after receiving illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh. The searches are being conducted at three locations in Chennai including P Chidambaram's residence in Nungambakkam, Chennai, three places in Mumbai, and one each in Karnataka, Punjab, and Odisha. 

While P Chidambaram has been in Delhi currently, his son Karti is not in the country presently. However, he has been watching the developments in Chennai. On Tuesday, in the midst of raids, he took to Twitter and wrote, "I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record. My office has just updated on the 'record' twice in 2015, once in 2017, twice in 2018, and today." In his earlier tweet, he wrote, "16/05/2017 will not be forgotten or forgiven." 

He made the tweets to apparently share how many times the CBI had conducted raids against him and by denoting a date, he has also reminisced similar searches conducted by the Central agency in 2017 against him and his father. During that time, the raids were said to be conducted with an allegation against the father and son duo over a particular deal which involved requiring permissions given to a TV channel, while Chidambaram was the Union Finance Minister. 

The deal was linked to Indrani Mukherjee and her company INX Media and the allegations were that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), under the Finance Ministry, has cleared the deal at the behest of Karti Chidambaram. This time, Karti has been accused of facilitating visas of 250 Chinese nationals after receiving a Rs 50 lakh bribe. The CBI has filed a case with regard to this and has been conducting raids at various places. 

The CBI has said that the crime of facilitating visas has happened during the previous UPA regime. The CBI authorities had sniffed about the scam during the ongoing probe into the deal with INX Media. While the authorities were scrutinizing the transactions, the CBI had detected the payments worth Rs 50 lakh, which was found to be an illegal gratification for facilitating the visas of Chinese nationals. 

 

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