Karti Chidambaram won by a margin of over 3 lakh votes in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga.
Highlights
- Top court turned down request to refund Rs 10 crore security deposit
- Karti Chidambaram said he was paying interest on loan he took
- He submitted deposit after getting permission to travel abroad in January
The Supreme Court today declined to refund a security deposit of Rs 10 crore to Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, and asked him to "pay attention to his constituency" - Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. Karti Chidambaram, facing several criminal cases, won from the Sivaganga parliamentary seat, traditionally a Congress stronghold, by a margin of over three lakh votes.
The Congress leader, being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation over alleged money laundering, had deposited Rs 10 crore as security the first time he was granted permission to travel abroad earlier this year.
Earlier this month, he had again sought permission from the top court to fly to the US, Germany and Spain to attend meetings of a tennis association. The top court then asked him to pay a second security deposit of Rs 10 crore - above the previous deposit of same amount - if he wanted to go abroad.
In response to the top court order, the newly elected Sivaganga lawmaker in a petition told the top court that he wanted the previous security deposit to be returned because he had taken the amount on loan and was paying interest for it. On May 14, the top court had refused to hear the petition saying there was "no urgency" to hear the petition and it will be taken up by a regular bench.
The Supreme Court today turned down his refund request and said: "We will refund Rs 10 crore but we will modify our second order and will direct you to deposit Rs 20 crore. Is it okay? Pay attention to your constituency."
Karti Chidambaram was contesting against H Raja, the BJP national secretary known for his controversial remarks, in Sivaganga, a constituency his father P Chidambaram won seven times between between 1984 and 2009. Over 5,60,000 people voted for Karti and 233860 voted for H Raja.
Karti Chidambaram and his father are being investigated in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
Investigators have opposed Karti Chidambaram's request to travel outside India and alleged that he has been "evasive", "non-cooperative" and "causing delay in the probe". He had been abroad for 51 days in the last six months, they said.