Delhi HC seeks stand of CBI on Karti Chidambaram's plea against charges in Chinese visa case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the stand of the CBI on Congress MP Karti Chidambaram's petition challenging the framing of charges of corruption and conspiracy against him in the alleged Chinese visa scam case.

Justice Manoj Jain, however, refused to stay the trial court proceedings at this stage and issued notice on Karti Chidambaram's application seeking the relief.

The senior counsel appearing for the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga submitted that the case was slated to be taken up by the trial court on February 4 even when no case was made out against him.

"This can't be stayed. We are of the view that we should not be staying the proceedings. Let us not derail the trial," the court orally retorted.

Let short reply/status report be filed before the next hearing on February 12, it ordered.

The CBI counsel said the matter was only listed for certain procedural formalities on February 4 before the trial court.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Karti Chidambaram, argued that in spite of charges under sections 8 and 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act over an alleged bribe of Rs 50 lakh, no public servants had been arrayed or identified.

He said the entire case was based on the statement of an approver and there was a complete absence of material to show any demand or acceptance of any bribe.

On December 23, 2025, a trial court ordered the framing of charges for criminal conspiracy and corruption against Karti Chidambaram and six others in the case.

It had said "prima facie" there was sufficient material to frame charges against Karti Chidambaram for the substantive offence under IPC Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and under sections 8 (taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence a public servant) and 9 (taking gratification, for exercise of personal influence with public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

In his petition before the high court, the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga said the trial court did not apply its judicial mind to the material and documents on record as it completely ignored documents, evidence and statements of witnesses which show absence of criminality.

The petition said there was neither any bribe or conspiracy, as alleged by the investigating agency.

"There must be evidence of money or the equivalent being demanded by the accused, payment thereof and acceptance by the accused. The Ld. (Learned) Trial Court has incorrectly observed that the petitioner demanded Rs 50 Lacs for the work. There is not even an allegation, let alone evidence (direct or circumstantial) of any demand being made by the petitioner," the plea filed through lawyer Akshat Gupta said.

"The Ld. Trial Court failed to appreciate that 're-use' of visas was already an existing practice, and there was no requirement for any conspiracy to receive a routine administrative clarification," it added.

The CBI had filed the chargesheet after two years of probe into its FIR registered in 2022, where it had alleged that the Punjab-based TSPL was setting up a 1980 MW thermal power plant and the work was outsourced to Chinese company Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO).

The project was running behind schedule, and the company was allegedly facing the prospect of a penalty.

The CBI FIR, which contained findings of the investigating officer who undertook the preliminary inquiry, alleged that an executive of TSPL approached Karti Chidambaram through his "close associate/front man" S Bhaskararaman.

In its chargesheet, besides Karti Chidambaram, the CBI has named his alleged close associate and chartered accountant, S Bhaskararaman, TSPL, a subsidiary of Vedanta, and Mumbai-based Bell Tools, through which bribes were allegedly routed.