Delhi High Court judge recuses self from hearing Karti Chidambaram's plea

New Delhi: Delhi High Court judge Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Tuesday recused herself from hearing a plea of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram seeking to quash a CBI FIR against him for allegedly helping an alcoholic beverage company over the ban on the duty-free sale of its whisky.

"List before another bench," the judge said.

Seeking to quash the case, Karti has alleged in the high court that there was a "gross delay" in registration of the "illegal" FIR on January 1, 2025, which was malafide, borne out of "political vendetta and regime revenge".

The matter would be listed next on July 21.

The case, fourth against the Congress MP, stems from a preliminary inquiry registered by the CBI in 2018 to investigate alleged irregularities in granting FIPB clearance when his father, P Chidambaram, was the finance minister.

The case was registered against Katra Holdings, ASCPL, Karti and others.

"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 plea has alleged.

The plea, filed through advocate Akshat Gupta, has further said as the FIR was filed against unidentified public servants without obtaining prior approval of the competent authority, its registration was unlawful and any inquiry or investigation was also illegal.

None of the offences alleged against the petitioner were even prima facie made out, it added.

The CBI registered the case against Karti for allegedly giving relief to Diageo Scotland over a ban imposed by ITDC (India Tourism Development Corporation) on the duty-free sale of its whisky, officials said on January 9 last year.

Suspicious payment was made to Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt. Ltd (ASCPL), "an entity controlled" by Karti and his close aide S Bhaskararaman by Diageo Scotland and Sequoia Capitals, the FIR said.

In April 2005, ITDC, which had a monopoly over the sale of imported duty-free liquor in India, put an embargo on the sale of the Diageo Group's duty-free products in India, which resulted in a huge loss to Diageo Scotland as 70 per cent of its business in India pertained to the sale of Johnnie Walker whisky, it is alleged.