Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi?s hopes for an early release from Tihar Jail were dashed on Wednesday when the Delhi High Court rejected her bail plea due to ?a possibility of interference? in the investigations related to the 2G scam.
Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar?s bail plea was also dismissed on the same grounds. Both will remain confined to Tihar Jail along with other scam accused ? disgraced former telecom minister A Raja, his former aides Siddhartha Behura and RK Chandolia, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Mumbai-based DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Swan Telecom MD Shahid Balwa, his brother Asif Balwa and DB Realty executive Rajiv Agarwal, three executives of ADAG, including group managing director Gautam Doshi and senior vice-presidents Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.
While dismissing their bail pleas, justice Ajit Bharihoke said they had strong political connections and the possibility of them influencing witnesses could not be ruled out. ?They have strong political connections. Kanimozhi belongs to the same political party to which accused A Raja (disgraced telecom minister) belongs and it is sharing power in the central government. ?Thus, considering their financial and political clout, a possibility cannot be ruled out that if they are freed at this stage, they would interfere with investigation or try to influence the witnesses. Thus, at this stage, I do not deem it appropriate to admit the petitioners on bail,? the judge said.
The 43-year-old daughter of DMK supremo M Karunanidhi and Sharad Kumar were arrested on May 20 after the special CBI court dismissed their bail pleas in the case. Kanimozhi?s mother Rajathi Ammal and DMK parliamentary party leader T R Baalu were present in the courtroom when the order was pronounced. Ammal was in tears after her daughter?s application for bail was rejected.
The 37-page judgement stated that the CBI?s supplementary chargesheet prima facie showed the complicity of the accused in the conspiracy and their having received illegal gratification of R200 crore in the account of KTV, which is controlled by them.
?Kanimozhi and Sharad accepted and received an illegal gratification of R200 crore in Kalaignar TV from the co-accused Shahid Balwa and Goenka in 2008-09 as a reward for undue favours shown by accused Raja in connivance with other public servants to Swan Telecom in the matter of allocation of valuable scarce spectrum,? justice Bharihoke said.
?The proximity of dates on which the money got transferred via circuitous route involving DB Realty Group Companies, Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd as also the reverse trail of money, prima facie, cannot be a coincidence and this gives rise to a prima facie involvement that aforesaid methodology was adopted by the petitioners and their co-accused persons with a view to conceal the trail of money from DB Realty Group, which owns Swan Telecom, and Unitech Group of Companies in the matter of grant of UAS Licences and spectrum,? the high court stated.
The court also said that investigations had revealed Kanimozhi was a stakeholder of KTV to the tune of 20% and was an active brain behind its operations. Besides, she actively pursued with the intermediaries and DMK headquarters in the matter regarding reappointment of Raja as telecom minister in 2009, the judge said quoting the chargesheet.
The high court rejected the contentions of senior counsel Altaf Ahmed, who appeared for the accused, that the liberty of a person was sacrosanct and no court had inherent power to remand an accused to custody when he was neither arrested during an investigation nor there was any allegation against him that he had interfered with the investigations.
He contended that the petitioners were innocent and had nothing to do with the alleged conspiracy between public servants and the private persons/companies in the matter of allotment of UAS licence/spectrum to Swan Telecom. However, bail applications were vehemently opposed by special prosecutor UU Lalit, who argued that there was a sufficient prima facie evidence on record to show the complicity of the accused in the conspiracy to confer undue advantage to Swan Telecom by the public servants, including Raja, in grant of spectrum to Swan, which was ineligible as per the policy guidelines.