Karti Chidambaram Owns 25 Properties Abroad, CBI Tells Supreme Court

Karti Chidambaram, son of Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram, owns 25 properties outside the country, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told the Supreme Court, reports Times of India.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the agency has provided a report detailing the properties Karti Chidambaram owns outside the country in a sealed cover.

“There are some new developments… New properties are also discovered… not less than 25 properties in foreign countries,” Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A K Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.

Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Karti Chidambaram, called the CBI's allegations ‘innuendoes’. “During Karti's questioning, not a single question was asked about the properties,” he was quoted as saying.

"The mala fide allegation about properties abroad could not be a justification for issuance of lookout notice by the CBI. The lookout notice was issued in relation to the alleged irregular FIPB clearance in 2007. Karti is no fugitive from justice that he be barred from travelling abroad. It violates his fundamental right, especially when there was no justification for issuance of the lookout notice," he added.

The apex court had on 2 September asked Karti Chidambaram not to travel abroad till 11 September while allowing the probe agency to submit details of interrogation in the case relating to an allegedly irregular Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) nod for investment of Rs 305 crore in INX Media in 2007 when his father was union finance minister. The CBI has alleged that Karti Chidambaram illegally took service charges for getting the FIPB clearance.