Tytler seeks court permission to go abroad

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been charge sheeted in a case of alleged forgery of a letter sent to the prime minister, Monday requested a Delhi court to allow him to go abroad for a sports-related event.

Tytler told Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge V.K. Gupta that he has to attend the International Kurash Association (IKA) directing committee meeting, its ordinary congress meeting and the Ninth World Kurash Senior Championship from Dec 11 to Jan 1 in Istanbul, Turkey. Kurash is a folk wrestling style from Central Asia.

According to the IKA website, Tytler is chairman of the International Kurash Association.

"Allow the present application and permit the applicant (Tytler) to travel to Istanbul from Dec 11 and return back to India on Jan 1," said Tytler in his plea.

The court has directed CBI to file a reply by Dec 6.

Tytler and businessman Abhishek Verma were chargesheeted in the case for the offence of attempting to cheat under IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Tytler was granted bail on Sep 30 while Verma is under judicial custody after having been arrested in connection with various cases lodged against him by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.

The complaint was filed on a complaint of the then minister of state for home Ajay Maken that a forged letter on his letterhead was written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Verma in 2009 seeking easing of business visa norms.

CBI has argued that Tytler had "actively connived" with Verma to cheat a Chinese telecom firm and the Congress leader had first shown a "fake and forged" letter to the company's officials, claiming it was written by Maken to the prime minister.