A Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) money-laundering case in relation to the CBI's bribes for visa scam probe.
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal on Friday also dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of co-accused S. Bhaskararaman (Karti's Chartered Accountant) and Vikas Makharia, the representative of the Mansa-based company, who is accused of approaching Mr. Bhaskararaman and paying him the bribe amount for getting the approval to reuse the project visas.
The court noted that if anticipatory bail is granted to the three accused in this case at this "nascent stage", "then their conduct and behaviour during investigation is bound to change and they may not provide any useful information to the investigating agency... interrogation of the accused armed with anticipatory bail order will stand reduced to a mere ritual than the investigation."
In addition, the court noted the gravity of the offence the three were accused of, saying, "sufficient evidence is stated to have already been collected in the said case to show generation of proceeds of crime in the form of above bribe amount and its payment and all the three applicants are alleged to be involved in the above transaction, along with some other co-accused who are yet to be identified."
On the gravity of the offences, the court said that the Project Visas were supposed to be approved only after the mandated security checks, which included screening by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
"However, in the instant case, even despite there being no specific provision contained in the said guidelines for permitting reuse of Project Visas, approval for re-use of more than 250 Project Visas to Chinese Nationals was granted blanketly against payment or acceptance of a bribe amount of ₹50 lakh and not only a threat was posed to the said power project being established by M/s TSPL, but even the security of the country was compromised by the above illegal acts of the accused, which apparently have been committed in furtherance of a larger conspiracy," the court said.
It added, "Sufficient documentary evidence in the form of exchange of e-mails between the three accused in connection with the above allegations is also stated to have been collected by the CBI."
Moreover, Special Judge Nagpal noted that while accused Mr. Makharia did not have any criminal antecedents, it had to consider the criminal history of Karti Chidambaram and Mr. Bhaskararaman being involved in the Aircel Maxis and INX Media deals as well. “Thus, in view of the above background, the allegations being levelled in the above CBI case registered recently for scheduled offences cannot be brushed aside or taken lightly,” the court said.
The judge also said that he found force in the ED’s arguments that “the actual magnitude or volume of the processed or laundered amount of money in the present case is yet to be established”.
The ED, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, submitted that the apprehension of arrest is not reasonable as their probe is at a nascent stage. While opposing the pleas, it added that granting the pleas for anticipatory bail might affect the probe negatively.
Karti Chidambaram, represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and assisted by Advocates Arshdeep Singh Khurana and Akshat Gupta, had argued that even the CBI's case did not disclose any allegations specifically against Mr. Karti. They had added that he was not a flight risk and that there was no apprehension of him either tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
While dismissing the anticipatory bail pleas, the Special court also ordered that the interim protection from arrest granted to the accused so far be vacated and directed them to join the ED’s investigation as and when called.
Shortly after his anticipatory bail plea was dismissed, Mr. Karti moved another application to keep the order in abeyance for seven days so that he may challenge it before the High Court concerned. His lawyers argued that if this is not done, the agency might arrest him before he can get a chance to approach a higher court. However, the court dismissed this plea.
Accused S. Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the CBI in the case last month, has now moved an application for regular bail in the case. His lawyers have already argued their case and the plea is now listed before Special Judge Nagpal for hearing the prosecution's side on June 6.
The CBI has alleged that in 2011, Mansa-based company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) was tasked with building a thermal power plant in Punjab's Mansa. The company had outsourced the work to a Chinese firm, which was under pressure to finish the project on time. The CBI alleged that Vikas Makharia, a representative of TSPL had then approached Mr. Bhaskararaman to approve a request to reuse around 250 project visas to bring in more foreign workers to finish the project.
The CBI has further alleged that Mr. Bhaskararaman had purportedly demanded ₹50 lakh for the approval, which was allegedly paid by routing it through a Mumbai firm. The ED's money-laundering case is based on these allegations.
