New Delhi: Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday (January 31) moved the Delhi High Court seeking to quash a First Information Report (CBI) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging alleging him of giving relief to a liquor company Diageo Scotland over a ban on the duty-free sale of its whisky.
The Congress MP, while claiming that the FIR was malafide and borne out of “political vendetta and regime revenge”, has said in his plea that there was a “gross delay” in registration of the “illegal” FIR by the CBI on January 1.
What has Karti Chidambaram said in his plea before High Court?
“There is gross delay in registration of the impugned FIR in as much as the allegations pertain to the period of 2004-2010 (as per the FIR) whereas the subject FIR has been registered in 2025, i.e., after 20 years,” the Congress MP has alleged in his plea before the High Court.
The plea, while saying that none of the offences alleged against him were even prima facie made out, has further said that the FIR was registered against unidentified public servants without obtaining prior approval from the competent authority, the registration of the FIR was unlawful and any inquiry or investigation was also illegal.
What has the CBI alleged?
The CBI registered the fresh case against the Congress MP on January 1 for allegedly lifting a ban imposed on Diageo Scotland by India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) on duty-free sale of its whisky.
What did Karti Chidambaram earlier claim before a trial court?
Karti Chidambarm earlier claimed before a trial court, where he had moved an anticipatory bail plea in the case, that the “Subject FIR is mala fide and is borne out of political vendetta” and that the central agency is acting at the behest of the Centre to malign his and his father P Chidambaram’s reputation.
The trial court, while hearing Karti Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea, had on January 10 directed the CBI to give a three-day prior written notice to him in the corruption case.
