KARTI MOVES HC FOR QUASHING OF CBI’S ‘LOOK OUT CIRCULAR’
Union minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram on Friday moved the Madras high court requesting it to quash a “look out circular” issued against him under the Passport Act over a corruption case filed by the CBI.
Karti contended in his petition that the July 18 circular was issued arbitrarily and without jurisdiction by the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) and the Bureau of Immigration under the Union home ministry seeking to prevent him from travelling abroad.
“The circular is a well thought out and meticulously orchestrated fraudulent plan of the CBI to stop me at the airport as and when I proceed abroad...and leak it to the media that I was detained at the airport and cause embarrassment to me,” Karti alleged.
He said he had responded to the agency’s two summons and there was “no absolute cause of action” for issuance of the LOC.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds when Karti’s father was the finance minister in 2007.
Justice D Duraiswamy has adjourned the matter until August 7 after additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan sought time to get instructions on whether the circular was issued.
Karti had sought time to appear before the CBI, which had registered an FIR against him and others alleging that a firm he “indirectly controlled” received money from INX Media, run by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea.
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