CBI questions Karti for 8 hrs in 'bribe-for-visa' case for 3rd day in a row

The CBI questioned Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram for eight hours for the third consecutive day on Saturday in connection with its probe into the alleged Rs 50-lakh bribery for issuance of visas to 263 Chinese workers involved in the construction of a Punjab-based power project in 2011, officials said.

Karti Chidambaram arrived at the CBI headquarters here at around 9.30 am and was questioned till 6 pm, they said

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been questioning the Congress leader since Thursday in the 11-year old case which he has termed as "most bogus" and a result of "political vendetta".

The case pertains to 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 14 against Karti and others on allegations of bribe of Rs 50 lakh being paid to him and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), which was setting a power plant in Punjab for re-issuance of project visa for 263 Chinese workers employed there, the CBI FIR said.

Project visas are a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for power and steel sector for which detailed guidelines were issued during Chidambaram's tenure as home minister, but there was no provision of re-issue of project visas, it alleged.

The agency has already arrested Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.