New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday issued a summons to Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others after taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case related to the issue of Chinese visas.

After hearing arguments, the special judge for MPs / MLAs cases, M K Nagpal, said, "Cognizance has been taken by this court of the offence of money laundering as defined by Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and as made punishable by Section 4 of the said Act and all eight accused prosecuted through this complaint have been directed to be summoned to appear before this court and to face trial for the above said offence.

"The summons be issued for appearance of accused in this court on April 5, 2024, at 1000 hours."

After the investigation, ED had filed a charge sheet against Chidambaram and four people, including the Congress MP’s close aide S Bhaskararaman, Padam Dugar, Vikas Makharia and Mansoor Siddiqui and three companies – Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Ltd., Dugar Housing Limited and M/s Talwandi Sabo Private Limited (TSPL).

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May 2022 registered an FIR (first information report) alleging that Chidambaram and his aide received Rs 50 lakh from TSPL for the reissue of visas to Chinese nationals in 2011.

TSPL had sought the reissue of project visas for 263 Chinese nationals back then for setting up a power project.

(With UNI inputs)