New Delhi:
Kanimozhi, the daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, has been in jail for over five months - and her internment in the 2G spectrum scam has led to high-drama charged politics in Delhi and Chennai. With her stand accused a former Cabinet Minister and some of the biggest names in the telecom sector, in what is being touted as India's most expensive swindle. (
Read: What is 2G scam?)
Eight of those accused - Kanimozhi , the most prominent amongst them - are up for bail today. (
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Of this group, the CBI has not opposed the bail for five - Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV MD Sharath Kumar, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal and Bollywood producer Karim Morani. The investigating agency has asked the court not to grant bail to former Telecom Minister A Raja's former private secretary 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 and MD, DB Realty and Swan Telecom Vinod Goenka and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa.
(2G scam: Charges against Raja, others)Kanimozhi's five month stay in jail has been a severe stress for the DMK's partnership with the Congress. With his 16 Lok Sabha MPs, Mr Karunanidhi has served as a senior partner of the UPA coalition at the Centre. During a visit to Delhi last month, he said that, "I don't know whether there is any political background to the delay in bail for Kanimozhi". His meetings with Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister during that visit suggested an effort on both sides to ease the tension caused by Kanimozhi's arrest. (
Unsure if political reasons are delaying Kanimozhi's bail, says Karunanidhi)
The premise of the telecom scam is that in 2008, when he was Telecom Minister, A Raja twisted rules and policy to grant mobile network licenses and spectrum to companies who were not eligible. In one case - that of Swan Telecom, the CBI says it has evidence of a kickback paid to Mr Raja. The money - Rs 214 crore - was deposited with a TV channel in Chennai which is co-owned by Kanimozhi and her stepmother. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, was arrested on May 20.
In October, the Delhi court headed by Judge OP Saini, who is handling the telecom scam, accepted all charges leveled by the CBI against all 14 people arrested so far. The other three accused in the case are companies - Reliance Telecom, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom. Mr Raja, who was arrested in February, has been charged with criminal breach of trust by a public servant. So has former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura. The others have been accused of criminal conspiracy in trying to bribe a public servant. The charge comes with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Other charges range from cheating to forgery.
Kanimozhi has tried three times to get bail. The last time her case went to the Supreme Court in June, she was advised to wait till the charges were framed against her, after which the Supreme Court said she could apply for bail again in Judge Saini's court.
Like earlier, her lawyers argue that Indian law (Section 437 of the Criminal Procedure Code) allows bail for those "under the age of 16, or (if the prisoner) is a woman, or is sick, or infirm." Kanimozhi has also said that she served only briefly as a Director of Kalaignar TV, the channel that allegedly served as a front for Mr Raja's kickback; that the money was in any case a loan that was returned to Swan with interest, and that since the CBI has collected all relevant documents and no witness has testified against her, she can neither tamper with evidence nor try to influence testimony.
In court, however, the CBI has described Kanimozhi as "the active brain" behind Kalaignar. Of the 14 people accused, only Mr Raja has not applied for bail. He says he wants to demolish the CBI's case against him in court, and then emerge vindicated.
The Supreme Court asked the CBI on Monday why it has chosen to differentiate between the 14 people arrested so far - on October 24, the agency told Judge Saini that it had no objections to bail for Kanimozhi and four others; but it has opposed the bail for Unitech Wireless' Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surendra Pipara. The CBI responded that it is upto Judge Saini to now decide who gets bail. (
2G case: Prosecution made concession to Kanimozhi, four others, CBI tells court)