New Delhi:
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court at Patiala House is hearing the bail pleas of Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and six others in the 2G scam today.
Ms Kanimozhi's lawyers concluded their arguments on her bail plea this morning, saying that since CBI investigations were over, she is not required in custody any more. Her lawyer Altaf Ahmad also said in court, "In your last order, you commented on her dignified conduct. She has justified your comment in the course of the case."
In their reply, the CBI has said they have no objection to bail being granted to her.
The DMK MP has been in jail since May 20. Her mother, Rajathiammal, husband G Aravindan and son are present in court. The prominent Tamil Nadu politician's father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi is in Delhi too.
A key ally of the ruling UPA, the 87-year-old Mr Karunanidhi has been in the capital since Friday. He met with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime minister Manmohan Singh. Ms Rajathiammal was also present at these meetings.
The CBI will reply in court on Ms Kanimozhi's bail petition at 2 pm. CBI sources had said that the agency, which has opposed petitions by Ms Kanimozhi for bail in the past few months, may not fight her latest request. The agency, however, maintains that Kanimozhi is the active brain behind Kalaignar TV and that Rs. 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom to Kalaignar TV, in which she owns a 20 per cent stake, through several subsidiaries as illegal gratification in return for 2G licenses and spectrum.
Ms Kanimozhi was denied bail by the trial court, the High Court and the Supreme Court through the five months that she has been in prison. But the Supreme Court had given her the liberty to approach the trial court for bail after charges had been framed in the case.
That happened on Saturday, when Judge OP Saini's court accepted all the charges levelled by the CBI against the 14 individuals and three companies listed as principal players in the 2G scam. Ms Kanimozhi, prime accused A Raja, and the executives of some of India's biggest telecom companies will now stand trial.
The CBI's charges against them range from criminal conspiracy to forgery and cheating. But the most serious charges in the case, controversially introduced by the CBI just a few weeks ago, are criminal breach of trust by a public servant for Mr Raja and Siddharth Behura, who was Telecom Secretary, and criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant for the 12 others. The maximum sentence for these charges is life imprisonment.
All, except Mr Raja, have already applied for bail. Ms Kanimozhi has sought bail on the following grounds:
- The Supreme Court has given her the liberty to file a fresh bail application under Section 437 of CrPC (that shows leniency towards women) after framing of charges
- She has no role in the alleged conspiracy in allocation of 2G spectrum and licenses
- Neither she nor Kalaignar TV is a beneficiary of spectrum allocation
- She's a minority shareholder at Kalaignar TV; holds only 20 per cent equity; was a Director for only two weeks in 2007 before she resigned
- During her judicial custody, the CBI never sought her interrogation
- She's a qualified lady, a post graduate, a Member of Parliament
- The transfer of Rs. 200 crore from Swan Telecom to Kalaignar TV was a genuine loan, duly returned with interest; this is borne out by documents
- As all relevant documents have already been collected by the CBI, there's no scope for any tampering with evidence
- No witness has given any statement implicating her, so there's no question of her influencing the witnesses
The telecom scam was allegedly webbed, according to the CBI, in 2008 by Mr Raja when he was Telecom Minister. He ignored advice, including from the Prime Minister, to auction second-generation or 2G spectrum. Instead, he allotted licenses and accompanying second-generation or 2G spectrum on a first-come-first-serve basis that was twisted to help companies Mr Raja allegedly conspired with.
The minister had set a deadline for filing applications in September 2008; in January 2010, he made a last-minute announcement that licenses would be given to those who filed their "Letters of Intent" first. The deadline for filing these documents and cheques was within hours of Mr Raja's revision of rules. A few companies like Swan and Unitech were ready with their cheques - the CBI believes they had been tipped off by the minister. And amid a fair amount of chaos, 122 licenses were issued to nine companies at a cost of Rs. 1600 crores each.
The 14 people who will stand trial in the case are Former Telecom Minister A Raja; Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura; Former Personal Secretary to A Raja RK Chandolia; Group MD, Reliance- ADAG, Gautam Doshi; Senior Vice President, Reliance- ADAG, Surendra Pipara; Senior Vice President, Reliance- ADAG, Hari Nair; Former MD, Unitech Wireless Sanjay Chandra; Promoter of DB Realty and Swan Telecom Shahid Balwa, Promoter and MD, DB Realty and Swan Telecom Vinod Goenka; MD, Kalaignar TV Sharath Kumar, DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi; Director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Rajeev Agarwal; Director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif Balwa; Promoter of Cineyug Films Karim Morani.
Apart from these individuals, three companies - Reliance Telecom, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom - are charged in the case, taking the number of accused to 17.