The CBI on Saturday landed at Congress leader Karti Chidambaram's Chennai house and opened nine sealed almirahs and took into their possession documents and electronic devices for analysis in the cash-for-visa scam.

On May 17, the CBI raided the premises of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti, and their close associate, S Bhaskararaman. According to the CBI FIR, the charges pertained to illegally allowing re-use of visas for Chinese nationals of Jinan-based Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (SEPCO) who were engaged to set up a 1,980-MW thermal power plant in the Mansa district of Punjab.

At the time of the search, some parts of Karti's house in Chennai, which had the almirah, were locked and the keys were with the Congress MP's wife, said agency sources. So the raiding officials sealed it to ensure that the records were safe, and it was opened on Saturday to get access to nine almirahs. The officials took away the documents and electronic devices recovered from the almirah, added CBI sources.

The CBI in its FIR has booked Congress parliamentarian Karti on charges of accepting ₹50 lakh for arranging visas for Chinese nationals at a time when his father P Chidambaram was union home minister in 2011.

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