Bhaskararaman arrested in bribery case related to Karti Chidambaram

CHENNAI: The CBI on Wednesday arrested Bhaskararaman, who is a close associate of politician Karti Chidambaram, in an alleged bribery case.

The sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at properties of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and his son and MP Karti Chidambaram in the city and other states, including Delhi, in connection with a reportedly fresh illegal gratification case registered.

Raids were conducted at 10 sites connected with Karti and his father. Apart from Chennai, the searches were spread across multiple locations in Mumbai, Koppal(Karnataka), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Mansa (Punjab) and Delhi.

The CBI also has named Bhaskararaman who is said to be Karti's "front man" in this allegation.

"A bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by said private person based at Chennai (Karti) through his close associate/Front man (Bhaskararaman) which was paid by the said Mansa-based private company (Talwandi Sabo)," said CBI's spokesperson RC Joshi.

Karti Chidambaram is said to have allegedly facilitated visas for 263 Chinese nationals for a power company after receiving illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh 11 years ago when his father P Chidambaram was the Union Minister.

(Inputs from PTI)