Karti might flee India like Mallya: CBI to Madras HC
Justifying the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against Karti P Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, in the INX Media case, the CBI on Monday informed the Madras High Court that it feared that he could flee the country and in view of the Vijay Mallya experience.
Karti Chidambaram had moved the court challenging the LOC issued against him by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Foreigner Regional Registration Officer.
However, when the petition came up for hearing before Justice M. Duraiswamy, Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan submitted that the Government was merely enforcing guidelines for issuing LOC that were issued on October 27, 2010 when Mr P Chidambaram (Karti’s father) was the Union Minister. “After Mallya’s experience, the government requested Immigration to open a file to make sure that those being investigated do not leave the country,” he said.
Therefore, the Additional Solicitor General said, the LOC was issued as Mr Karti had failed to appear before investigating agencies on two occasions. He said the clock cannot be put back once an accused fled the country. The LOC would be withdrawn if Mr Karti submitted an affidavit undertaking not to travel abroad. Mr Rajagopalan also refused to share the LOC with Mr Karti on the grounds that it was confidential. But Justice Duraiswamy directed the CBI to give a copy of the LOC to Mr Karti saying the respondent was entitled to it.
Mr Karti’s lawyer Satish Parasaran argued that he did not appear for questioning as he had responded to the first summons through legal counsel and challenged the second summons.