The Supreme Court today (January 17, 2020) has allowed Congress MP Karti Chidambaram to withdraw Rs. 20 crores deposited in its registry, as security for travelling abroad.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, S A Bobde, Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant was hearing the matter.

The Supreme Court in January and May last year had granted Karti Chidambaram permission to travel abroad after depositing Rs 20 crore (Rs 10 crore for January and 10 Crore for May) with the Secretary-General of the Supreme Court.

In the previous hearing on January 13, 2020 the Supreme Court of India, issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate to file a reply to a petition submitted by Karti Chidambaram seeking a refund in the amount of Rs. 20 crores, which was deposited by him as a security for travelling abroad, while he was out on bail. 

The bench had sought clarification regarding the purpose of the security deposit from the investigating agency and whether that purpose stood fulfilled after K. Chidambaram’s return from abroad.

Earlier, the court had allowed K. Chidambaram to go abroad for various purposes like the admission of his daughter and for participation in tennis tournaments held abroad, in the last two years. He was allowed to visit United Kingdom and USA in May and Germany and Spain in June, 2019. The plea to travel abroad also stated that the respondent is a former tennis player, an administrator and an entrepreneur.