Deposit Rs 10 cr with registry to travel abroad: SC to Karti

 The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Congress MP Karti Chidambaram to travel to the UK and France to attend a tennis tournament, asking him to deposit Rs 10 crore with the registry.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant allowed Karti Chidambaram, who faces criminal cases being probed by the Central Bureau of investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, to travel abroad from February 14 to 28 subject to compliance of conditions imposed earlier.

He had moved the apex court seeking a direction to approve his foreign visit. In January, the apex court had allowed him to withdraw Rs 20 crore, which was deposited as a surety, along with an undertaking that he would return and cooperate with the investigation.

The ED and the CBI have already questioned Karti Chidambaram on several occasions in the INX media case, pertaining to his alleged role in obtaining clearance to the tune of Rs 305 crore from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father P Chidambaram was the Finance Minister.

The court had allowed Karti Chidambaram to travel to the US, Spain and Germany in May and June last year. In giving this relief, the bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had directed Karti to deposit a security of Rs 10 crore with the secretary General of the Supreme Court. The ED had registered a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case based on FIR by the CBI. - IANS