Delhi HC to hear Karti Chidambaram's plea to quash CBI FIR on Aug 12

New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) The Delhi High Court would on August 12 hear Congress MP Karti Chidambaram's plea to quash a CBI FIR against him for allegedly giving relief from ban to alcoholic beverage company Diageo Scotland over the duty-free sale of its whisky.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja, who was scheduled to hear the matter on Monday, deferred the hearing on the request of public prosecutor, who sought the adjournment on the ground that related matters were listed on August 12.

The MP has argued that there was a "gross delay" in registration of the "illegal" FIR on January 1 and claimed it was malafide and borne out of "political vendetta and regime revenge".

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

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

The plea 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, 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.

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 related to the sale of Johnnie Walker whisky, it is alleged.

On January 10, a court directed the CBI to give a three-day prior written notice to Karti in the corruption case. PTI UK UK AMK AMK