New Delhi:
DMK President M Karunanidhi has reached Delhi to meet his daughter, Kanimozhi, who was refused bail by the Supreme Court on Monday.
Karunanidhi arrived this morning and drove straight to a five-star hotel where he will take some rest before meeting Kanimozhi at Tihar in the evening.
The DMK leader is accompanied by his wife Rajathi Ammal, who is currently camping in the Capital. Kanimozhi's husband Aravindan is also expected to join them.
DMK sources said Karunanidhi decided to visit his daughter at the jail immediately after the Supreme Court denied bail to her yesterday.
Kanimozhi was arrested on May 20 in connection with the 2G telecom scam. However, she has been given the right to go back to the special court that's trying the telecom scam, and apply for bail under a provision that allows for "leniency for women, children and old people in matters of bail."
(Read: What Supreme Court's order says)
Her lawyer pleaded in court, "'Put CCTV camera in her house if you like. Impose any condition. But why should she be deprived of her son's company?"
The CBI has placed serious charges against Kanimozhi - it says she conspired with fellow DMK leader A Raja to accept a kickback worth Rs 214 crore in the telecom scam. Mr Raja was arrested in February for masterminding the scam. He stands accused of selling mobile network licences and spectrum at a pittance in 2008 to companies that he colluded with. One of those companies - Swan - allegedly repaid him by routing a Rs 214-crore cheque through a series of companies. The money was deposited with Kalaignar TV, a Tamil channel in Chennai co-owned by Kanimozhi.
Two courts - a special court set up to try the 2G scam and the Delhi High Court - have rejected bail for Kanimozhi in the last few weeks. The High Court cited her "political clout" and expressed concerns that she may be able to influence witnesses if she is freed. The judge of the 2G trial court had observed, "Much as I would want to show her consideration on the grounds that she's a woman, and the fact that she has conducted herself with great dignity in court, considering the magnitude of the offence she's been charged with, the character of evidence on record and the possibility of the accused tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses, the bail plea is dismissed." These grounds for refusing bail were described as "untenable" by the Supreme Court on Monday.
To try again for bail in the special 2G court, Kanimozhi will have to wait till charges are formally framed against her and others in the 2G scam - that will happen after the CBI files its third chargesheet in the case, expected in early July. Kanimozhi was named in the second chargesheet along with Sharath Kumar, the Managing Director of her TV channel. The first chargesheet had deposited Mr Raja and senior executives from some of India's biggest telecoms in jail.
(Read: Inside Kanimozhi's jail cell) |
(In Pics: A-listers at Tihar jail)Her lawyers have argued that Kanimozhi was not an active decision-maker in the financial and other affairs of Kalaignar TV - a stand the CBI has opposed. Kanimozhi's lawyers argued that she should get bail because she is a woman, and because she needs to look after her young son because her husband works abroad.
The 2G scam - reported to be India's largest-ever swindle and price-tagged at Rs 1.76 lakh crore by the government's auditor - has seriously undermined the government's credibility and its claims that it is working hard to check corruption. Since September last year, a series of scams have proved that politicians, bureaucrats and often industrialists conspired to rook India with rough-hewn financial conspiracies.
The spotlight on Kanimozhi has also cast a long shadow over the alliance between the Congress and her father, M Karunanidhi, who heads the DMK.
The DMK has six Union ministers and 18 Lok Sabha MPs, making it a heavyweight in the UPA coalition at the Centre which is headed by the Congress. (With PTI inputs)