Lodged in Tihar jail since May 20 following rejection of her bail plea by Special Judge O.P. Saini, Ms. Kanimozhi approached his court for bail a day after the court failed to adhere to its self-imposed deadline of September 15 to frame charges in the case. The court listed her bail plea for hearing on October 1.
While refusing bail to various 2G scam accused, the Supreme Court had earlier asked them to move the trial court for bail after framing of charges in the case.
Pleading innocence, 43-year-old Kanimozhi also prayed for bail on account of her being a woman MP and the mother of a school-going child. She moved the court for bail along with Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar.
“The petitioner (Kanimozhi) has no role in the alleged conspiracy in allocation of UAS licence, valuable and scarce spectrum in various telecom circles and other undue favours to Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (accused in the case) during 2007-2008 etc,” said the bail plea filed on behalf of Ms. Kanimozhi.
“Neither she nor Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd is a beneficiary of spectrum licence either,” said he bail plea filed by her counsel V.G. Pragasam and S.J. Aristotle.
Ms. Kanimozhi’s bail plea said she was one of the directors of Kalaignar TV only for two weeks from June 6, 2007, to June 20, 2007, when she resigned.
“Prosecution documents themselves would show that she (Kanimozhi) had no role in its (Kalaignar TV) operations and the management of the offices of the said TV and particularly in relation to the transfer of funds of Rs 200 crores to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd nor its subsequent repayment,” her plea said.
“She is also not a beneficiary of the entire loan transaction of Rs 200 crore,” her bail application added.
Ms. Kanimozhi, along with Mr. Sharad Kumar, is accused of taking a bribe of Rs 200 crore which had been routed to Kalaignar TV, in which she has 20 percent stake.
“Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar are innocent and sought to be falsely implicated in the present case due to biased media reporting and on the basis of conjectures and surmises,” their counsel Mr. Pragasam and Mr. Aristotle said in the bail plea.
Pleading that there are no chances of her absconding, Kanimozhi said she was not arrested by CBI during investigation nor was she produced in custody before this special court.
“On receipt of summons, she voluntarily appeared before the court,” her counsel said in her bail plea.
Mr. Kumar, on the other hand, in his bail plea, denied having any link with former Telecom Minister A Raja, the key accused in the case.
“Conspiracy with him (Raja) is denied as totally false, baseless and malicious. Kumar is a professional and not even a DMK party member,” the bail application filed on behalf of Kumar said adding he is only a Director in the TV channel and not its CEO or Managing Director and holds 20 per cent stake in it.
“Kumar has acted according to law in the conduct of affairs of the company on the basis of resolutions passed by the Board of Directors of the company (Kalaignar TV) from time to time and after taking due advice from the Chief Financial Officer and the company auditor,” his bail application said.
Both Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Kumar said in their bail pleas that the charges levelled put against them are not very serious as they are not punishable either with death or life sentence and carries a “maximum punishment of five years only”.
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