Kanimozhi has been chargesheeted by the CBI for allegedly accepting a Rs. 214-crore bribe that was a part of India's largest swindle, the 2G scam. Her party MP and Dalit leader A Raja has been in Tihar since February, for allegedly planning and executing the 2G scam when he was Telecom Minister in 2008.
After the judgement was pronounced, the Rajya Sabha MP said she was expecting this verdict.
Kanimozhi and Kumar hold 20 per cent stake each in Kalaignar TV, while former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's wife and Kanimozhi's step mother Dayalu Ammal holds 60 per cent share.
Order on their bail plea has been deferred repeatedly. The last hearing on May 14 was a day after the results of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections were announced. The DMK, which ruled the state for the last five years, got a severe drubbing.
Kanimozhi had appeared before the court for the first time on May 6 complying with the summons issued to her after the second chargesheet filed by the CBI named her as an accused in the case. She was directed by the court to be personally present till her bail was decided upon. Kanimozhi was earlier granted exemption for May 12 and 13 as she and Sharad Kumar were to appear before the Income Tax office in Chennai.
The CBI, on the other hand, has been opposing her bail saying her "complicity" in the alleged bribe given to Kalaignar TV in the 2G scam is clear. "The transactions are nothing but the transfer of bribe money to Kalaignar TV. Kumar (MD of the channel) alone cannot be held responsible when a family is having the controlling shares," special public prosecutor U U Lalit had said.
Present in the courtroom Friday were former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Raja's aide R.K. Chandolia, Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom and Sanjay Chandra of Unitech.
Two officials of ADAG, Gautam Doshi and Hari Nair, who were also named in the charge sheet, were present in the courtroom.
Kanimozhi, 43, has been charged under Sections 7 and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The chargesheet said the investigation into the case disclosed that money had travelled from DB Realty to Kalaignar TV.
The supplementary chargesheet filed by the investigating agency has also named as co-accused Sharad Kumar of Kalaignar TV, Karim Morani of Cineyug Films, and Asif Balwa and Rajiv B Agarwal of Kusegaon Realty. It would be interesting to see how this decision would affect the political equations at the centre.
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