A special court in Chennai dismissed pleas filed by Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram and his wife and dancer Srinidhi seeking discharge from an Income tax evasion case. The judge also ordered the couple to be physically present during the next hearing in the case on January 21.

The case dates back to 2015, when Karti Chidambaram and Srinidhi sold their property in Muttukadu to Agni Estates and Foundation Private Limited. According to reports, the IT has alleged that the couple sold their property at Rs 5 crore per acre but had registered the sale agreement for Rs 3.65 crore per acre, which is Rs 1.35 crore less than actual sale price per acre of the property.

The Income Tax department had registered a case under section 276C of the Income Tax Act 1961 [Willful evasion of tax] against Karti Chidambaram and Srinidhi based on the information they received from the employees of Agni Estates and Foundation Private Limited. The department accused the couple of not disclosing the amount they allegedly received by cash out of the sale. As per the department, Karti Chidambaram had received Rs 6.38 crore and Srinidhi had received Rs 1.35 crore from the department. The case was initially taken up by the Metropolitan Magistrate court (Economic offences) and was, in 2019, transferred to the special court handling cases against MPs and MLAs after Karti was elected as Sivaganga MP. He was elected as the Member of Parliament from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 General Elections. 

District Judge D Lingeswaran, on Tuesday, dismissed the petitions and ordered the Prosecution to frame charges against Karti Chidambaram and Srinidhi. He also posted the case to January 21 for hearing and ordered both the accused to be present in the court on January 21 failing which he will issue warrant against both of them.