New Delhi:
Kanimozhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, has been arrested after a special court denied her bail in the 2G scam case.
The DMK Rajya Sabha MP had applied for bail minutes after arriving in court yesterday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) argued against bail being granted to her.
Kanimozhi has been accused by the CBI of accepting a bribe along with her party colleague, A Raja, who was Telecom Minister and is now in jail for allegedly designing India's biggest scam.
In court, Kanimozhi appeared relaxed and was seen smiling as she talked to her husband and senior leaders of her party like TR Baalu. Not everyone found the tension bearable though - a DMK MP named Adi Shankar fainted in court.
Kanimozhi is being represented in court by high-profile lawyer, Ram Jethmalani. On Thursday, she told NDTV that she did not expect "leniency or special treatment because she is a woman."
All the people chargesheeted in the 2G scam so far have been denied bail and are in jail. Among them are the executives of some of India's biggest telecom companies.
Ms Kanimozhi is part owner of a TV channel that allegedly became the landing strip for a 214-crore bribe paid by a telecom company to Mr Raja in return for a mobile network license and spectrum. She has argued that she was not an active participant in the company. The CBI has refused this explanation in its chargesheet.
Mr Jethmalani said yesterday, "The allegation is Swan Telecom paid a bribe to Kalaignar TV. Assuming for a moment that it was at Raja's instance that Swan paid Kalaignar TV, what is the offence committed here? She's just a shareholder in the company. Not even a majority shareholder. She just has 20% equity. The CBI is trying to create prejudice against her." He stressed, "It's only the Board of Directors who control the company and they alone can be held for criminal liability."