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| Kanimozhi departs for a court from her residence in New Delhi yesterday |
In a temporary relief for the politically battered first family of Tamil Nadu, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court yesterday deferred until May 20 its verdict on the bail appeals of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar in connection with their alleged role in the telecom licensing case.
CBI Special Judge O P Saini, after seeing the crowd in the packed courtroom, said: “The court will pronounce its verdict on the bail plea of the duo on May 20.”
The court had reserved the order on their bail application on May 6.
Kanimozhi was accompanied by her mother Rajathi Ammal and husband Aravindan when she arrived at the court. DMK parliamentarian T R Balu was also present.
Kanimozhi appeared relaxed as she left the court.
As soon the judge delivered his statement, Kanimozhi broke into a broad smile, visibly relieved.
“I am always relaxed, nothing worries me,” she said while leaving the court.
This mood was noticeable even while she was in the courtroom during the scrutiny of the documents. She was seen talking to former communications minister A Raja, who is now in judicial custody in Tihar jail, and other accused in the case.
The CBI had named Kanimozhi, daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi who suffered a massive rout in the assembly elections, and Sharad Kumar as co-conspirators in its April 25 supplementary charge-sheet after the agency traced an illegal money trail of Rs20.4bn.
Asif Balwa and Rajiv B Agarwal of Kusegaon Realty, also named as co-conspirator in the case, were also present in the court.
The fifth co-conspirator, Cineyug Film’s Karim Morani was not present as he got exemption from personal appearance due to ill health. However, he will have to appear before the court on May 18.
The money trail allegedly moved from Dynamix to Kusegaon and then on to Cineyug - all part of the DB Group that promoted Swan Telecom - ending with the Karunanidhi family-run Kalaignar TV. The channel had earlier stated that the Rs20.4bn was a loan which was paid back with interest.
Raja, a DMK MP, has been accused of allowing the sale of spectrum licences to telecom companies at low prices in 2008 when he was the communications minister, allegedly causing huge losses to the exchequer. He is in jail.
Raja, his aide R K Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa were present in the court yesterday. They are charged with conspiring to sell 2G spectrum waves to select companies at rock bottom prices.
Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra of Unitech and two officials of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group - Gautam Doshi and Hari Nair and - who were also named in the charge-sheet were also present in the court.
Surendra Pipara of Reliance, who is in judicial custody, was not produced in the court as he is undergoing treatment for a heart problem.