Congress leader Karti Chidambaram was granted regular bail by the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Thursday. Chidambaram is accused of money laundering in connection with the Chinese visa issue. Granting bail, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja directed him to furnish a personal bond of one lakh and two sureties of the same amount.
The court has already summoned the accused after receiving the charge sheet. Karti Chidambaram and the seven other accused in the case were issued summons from the Rouse Avenue Court on March 19. Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a chargesheet against Karti Chidambaram, S Bhaskararaman and several other individuals and companies.
In the case, ASG SV Raju appeared on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate and verbally promised the court that no coercive action would be taken while the matter was pending in the court. Karti Chidambaram had already moved an anticipatory bail motion before the Delhi High Court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the accused did not have any evidence to support him. Since there are no claims that money has been provided to Karti Chidambaram, no complaint of money laundering has been filed, he claimed.
If there is no money it cannot be washed. Still, they registered the ECIR. The defendant has joined the investigation and is cooperating with it. The alleged transaction dates back to 2011 and they registered the case for the year 2022,” Sibal argued before the court.
“There is a fear of being arrested as they registered the ECIR within ten days of registration of the FIR by the CBI. I am named in that ECIR and they can arrest me at any time without even calling or informing me. In the case of the CBI “They have notified me 72 hours in advance before the arrest so that I can go to court,” he argued.
He had previously maintained that the alleged transaction was worth less than one million rupees, or Rs. 50 lakh. Sibal claimed that Karti Chidambaram should be released on bail in this incident. However, ASG SV Raju argued that since there is no relevant evidence in the case, the bail application is premature.
“We will investigate the case. Still, they fear being arrested; why are they doing it? If no case is filed against them, why are they afraid?” he said.
He argued that this application was premature as no summons was issued and only an ECIR was registered. Therefore, the apprehension of arrest is not genuine. The CBI judge of the Rouse Avenue Court earlier dismissed the three applications filed by Karti Chidambaram, S. Bhaskararaman and Vikas Makharia.
(With contributions from ANI)