Kanimozhi Arrested

The 43-year old Kanimozhi was named as accused in the 2G scam by the CBI in its supplementary charge sheet filed on April 25. Kanimozhi and Kumar are accused of receiving Rs 200-crore kickbacks from associate companies of DB Realty, whose owner Shahid Usman Balwa is also owner of Swan Telecom.

The charge sheet had detailed how the money was transferred in a circuitous route by DB Realty to Kalaignar TV in lieu of licences and spectrum allocated to Swan Telecom.

Rejecting the bail petitions Kanimozhi and Kumar, CBI judge OP Saini said: ?Considering the magnitude of the crime and the fact that many of the witnesses are employees of Kalaignar TV, there is every apprehension that the witnesses may be influenced, if the accused are released on bail?.

Though Karunanidhi’s second wife and Kanimozhi’s step-mother Dayalu Ammal holds 60% stake in Kalaignar, she was not charge-sheeted on the grounds that she was not an active participant in the company’s affairs. Instead, she has been made a witness in the case. With the latest arrests, the count of accused in the 2G scam behind bars has gone up to 13 ? the highest ever in any scam in the country’s history. With the CBI expected to file additional charge sheets, more arrests are expected in the course of time. The CBI is yet to charge-sheet companies like Loop Telecom and Datacom, who were also beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum. It is also yet to file a charge sheet on the dual technology case in which four companies benefited. Three executives of Anil Ambani’s ADAG ? group managing director Gautam Doshi and senior vice-presidents Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara ? Unitech’s managing director Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s Balwa, his business partner Vinod Goenka are already behind bars. In addition, Balwa’s brother Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, a DB Realty executive are also in jail. Former telecom minister A Raja and his former aides, Siddhartha Behura and RK Chandolia were the first to be arrested and continue to be behind bars.

With the news of the bail rejection and the subsequent arrest, top DMK leaders went into a huddle at Karunanidhi’s CIT Colony residence. Earlier, the party chief was glued to the TV to know the latest on the fate of his daughter. Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi Ammal has already left for Delhi.

With the party losing power in the state, it is unlikely to pressure the Congress party at the Centre, of which it is a coalition partner. The 2G scam case is being investigated by the CBI under the overall supervision of the Supreme Court.

?We will consult legal experts on moving the Delhi High Court,? said Karunanidhi, adding that ?I feel like any other father whose kin is arrested.? Karunanidhi added that ties with Congress will continue as usual. Unconfirmed reports earlier indicated that the DMK ministers in the Union Cabinet had left for Chennai to discuss the issue of continuing in the central government.

It is certain that Kanimozhi and Kumar will also move the Delhi High Court for bail as done by the five corporate executives. The order against their appeal has been reserved by the court. In fact, after her arrest, Kanimozhi’s lawyer Ram Jethmalani said that she would appeal before the Delhi High Court.

The court, however, clarified that its observations were ‘tentative’ and they do not express any opinion on the merits of the case.