New Delhi:
The second chargesheet in the 2G spectrum scam will be filed on Monday by the Central Bureau of Investigation court that's been set up exclusively for the trial of India's largest-ever scam.
The chargesheet is likely to deliver another crushing blow to the DMK whose A Raja has already been sent to jail for conceiving and executing the scam when he was Telecom Minister. This time around, the First Family of the DMK will receive the blow. Sources in the CBI say that M Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, and his wife, Dayaluammal, will both be accused of benefiting from the scam. Mr Karunanidhi heads the DMK and is hoping to be re-elected as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister next month (the state voted earlier this month, results will be declared on May 13).
In 2008, Mr Raja allocated spectrum and mobile network licences at throwaway prices to companies that allegedly paid him huge kickbacks in return.
The CBI says it has evidence that a Rs 214-crore bribe from Swan Telecom was routed through a maze of companies associated with Swan's promoter, Shahid Balwa, before it was finally deposited with Kalaignar TV in Chennai. Kanimozhi and Dayaluammal own 80% of the TV channel. The rest is owned by Managing Director Sharad Kumar, who is also expected to figure in the chargesheet. All three were interrogated by the CBI recently about the Swan bribe. They described the Swan payment as an offer for equity that was returned when the deal unravelled.
Mr Balwa is already in jail for this kickback; so is his partner at Swan, Vinod Goenka. Swan - along with Unitech Wireless and Reliance Telecom - has been described by the CBI as a company shown undue favour by Mr Raja. Top executives of these companies were chargesheeted on April 2 and are now in jail.
The new chargesheet will connect the dots between the start and finish points of the Rs. 214-crore kickback from Swan. Companies used on the way to transact the alleged bribe - like Cineyug Films and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables - will see their top executives figuring in the chargesheet. They're likely to include Karim Morani of Cineyug; Mr Balwa's brother Asif and Rajiv Aggarwal who are both associated with Kusegaon.
WILL THE NEW CHARGESHEET IMPACT DMK-CONGRESS ALLIANCE?The DMK said today that the adversity it's confronting with the 2G scam investigation will not be exploited by the Congress, its political partner in Tamil Nadu.
"A political alliance is a different from the investigation," said DMK spokesperson T K S Ilangovan. "An investigation is based on certain reports. We cannot link the alliance with investigation."
The Congress and the DMK have both denied over the last few months that the investigation into the 2G scam has added to the tension in their skittish marriage in Tamil Nadu. In the campaign for the recently-held elections, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held a joint rally with Mr Karunanidhi. The parties broke up temporarily when negotiations for how many seats each would contest got tricky. After threatening to pull out of the UPA government at the Centre, the DMK blinked first. The Congress has made it clear that if its alliance with the DMK wins the election, it will want to participate in the government, instead of limiting its role to that of an external supporter.