New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed Wednesday a plea of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram seeking return of Rs 10 crore which he had deposited with the court’s registry for travelling abroad. Karti is facing a number of criminal cases being probed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
A vacation bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose rejected Karti’s plea and said, “Pay attention to your constituency.” Karti in his plea had said that he had taken the money as loan and was paying interest on it.
A bench headed by the CJI had allowed May 7, Karti, son of former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, to travel to the United Kingdom, US, France, Germany and Spain in May and June.
“The applicant (Karti) shall make a deposit of Rs 10 crore only before the Secretary General of this Court, which will be returned to him after he comes back to the country,” the bench had said in its May 7 order.
The apex court had in January also granted Karti permission to travel abroad after depositing Rs 10 crore with the secretary general of the Supreme Court.
The court, on the request of ED, had earlier asked Karti to file an undertaking that he would return to India and cooperate with the investigation. The court had said that it would ‘come down heavily’ on Karti if he did not cooperate.
Karti is facing several criminal cases being investigated by the ED and CBI including one which relates to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds of Rs 305 crore when his father was the Finance Minister.
PTI