In another setback to Karti Chidambaram, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to release Rs.10 crore that was earlier deposited by him with the Supreme court’s registry for travelling abroad.
Reportedly, a bench headed by Justice Deepak Gupta said the amount will continue to remain in fixed deposit for another three months.
Karti Chidambaram, who is facing proceedings in cases like Aircel-Maxis and money laundering matters, had deposited Rs.10 crore pursuant to the condition imposed by the top court for travelling abroad.
The apex court had allowed Karti to travel to the United States, Spain and Germany in May and June, asking him to deposit another Rs.10 crore as the security deposit. The bench was hearing Karti’s plea seeking permission to travel abroad to attend international tennis tournaments organised by a company called ‘Totus Tennis Ltd’ having its registered office in the UK.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna gave its approval for his travel abroad with subject to compliance of conditions.
Later, Karti had requested the court to release the sum of Rs.10 crore deposited by him earlier since he has returned back in time in compliance with the court’s order.
However, the Supreme Court had dismissed his petition filed in May seeking the release of Rs.10 crore deposited by him earlier this year before travelling abroad. The vacation bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose had dismissed his plea. In a sharp note to the advocated representing the newly elected Member of Parliament, CJI Gogoi quipped, “Pay attention to your constituency.”
Karti Chidambaram is facing investigation in a number of cases including money laundering and having undisclosed foreign assets. He has been charged in cases like INX Media case and Aircel Maxis case and is facing probe from the central agencies. P Chidambaram has also been facing an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Aircel Maxis case.
Karti was arrested in February 2018 by the CBI in the INX Media case. The CBI had accused him of receiving a bribe of Rs 3.5 crores from the Peter and Indrani Mukherjee owned INX Media Pvt Ltd. INX Media was later named as 9X. However, he was later granted bail.