The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, to travel to the United Kingdom from December 1 to December 10, IANS reported. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, ordered him to give it an undertaking that he will return to India by December 10, warning that it will be treated as contempt of court if he fails to return by then.
Karti Chidambaram had moved the court after the government issued a lookout circular against him – preventing him from travelling abroad – in connection with the INX Media case. The matter pertains to alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approvals INX Media obtained in 2007 to receive funds worth Rs 305 crore from abroad. Karti Chidambaram told the court he needed to visit Cambridge in December for his daughter’s admission to the university there.
Earlier in November, the Supreme Court had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the INX media case, whether Karti Chidambaram could be allowed to make the trip and what conditions can be imposed on him to ensure his return. The CBI has alleged multiple times that Karti Chidambaram had used his foreign visits earlier in 2017 to tamper with evidence in the case.
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