Delhi High Court relaxes foreign travel restrictions on Congress MP Karti Chidambaram

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad without seeking the trial court's permission each time.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja relaxed the travel conditions earlier imposed on Chidambaram.

However, the Court said that he must provide an itinerary of his proposed journeys to the authorities two weeks in advance.

The case against Chidambaram pertains to the alleged INX Media scam. The CBI had registered a case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funding of ₹305 crore in 2007, when Karti Chidambaram's father P Chidambaram was the Union Finance Minister.

Karti Chidambaram was granted bail by the High Court in the case in March 2018. One of the conditions imposed was that he should not travel outside India without the trial court's permission. 

Chidambaram filed the present application, arguing that he is a frequent traveller and has been travelling to several countries with the Court's permission. 

He added that the condition should be relaxed with respect to countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the USA which he frequently visits.

The CBI opposed the plea.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra with advocates Arshdeep Singh Khurana, Akshat Gupta, Harsh Srivastava, Sidak Singh Anand and Madhushruthi Neelkantan appeared for Karti Chidambaram.

CBI was represented through its Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Anupam S Sharrma as well as advocates Harpreet Kabi, Vashist Rao, Ripudaman Sharma, Vishesh Jain, Syamantak Mudgil, Anant Prakash Mishra and Riya Sachdeva.