Karti Chidambaram granted permission to travel abroad, should deposit Rs 10 cr security

New Delhi, May 07: The Supreme Court today allowed former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, who is facing a probe in the INX Media case, to travel abroad in May and June this year. Karti will, however, have to deposit a security amount of Rs 10 Crore, said reports.

Karti had earlier sought permission to travel to United States, Spain and Germany in May and June.

Karti Chidambaram has been facing criminal cases being investigated by the ED and the CBI. One of the cases relates to FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds of R s. 305 crore when his father was the finance minister.

Even in January this year, the Supreme Court had allowed Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad but had warned him that the court will be "forced to take steps" if he does not cooperate with the probe agencies.

Karti has already been questioned by the ED on several occasions in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the case. The agencies are probing how Karti managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister.

Karti was arrested on February 28, 2018 by the CBI for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail. Karti's chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested and released on bail later.

It has been alleged that Karti Chidambaram took money from INX Media and used his influence and power to manipulate a tax probe against the company regarding a case of violation of FIPB conditions to get investments from Mauritius.