Kanimozhi bail plea deferred till Saturday

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday deferred till Saturday its decision on the bail plea by DMK parliamentarian Kanimozhi, named a co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum allocation case.


Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini said the case will be taken up on Saturday.

Besides Kanimozhi, daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi and a stakeholder in Kalaignar TV, the court will also take decision Saturday on the bail pleas of the other accused, Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Agarwal of Kusegaon Realty.

In her plea, Kanimozhi contended that she had no "wrong intentions".

Her lawyer Ram Jethmalani argued that she had not signed any document nor attended any board meetings of Kalaignar TV.

He asserted that the DMK leader was just a shareholder and had nothing to do with the transfer of money in the company.

"My misfortune is that I am the daughter of Karunanidhi and an MP. I have 20 percent share in Kalaignar TV. Show me one overt act of mine which relates to the offence," Jethmalani said, arguing on behalf of the Rajya Sabha member.

"The overt act committed by the company can't be attributed to a person who is a mere shareholder and did not take part in any decision which indicates about her complicity in the case."

"I have not absconded nor interfered with the evidence. I was just summoned and I obeyed court orders. I have no wrong intention and bail is my right. It should be granted," Jethmalani said.

While Jethmalani made the arguments in the packed courtroom, Kanimozhi remained composed and calm.

All the 14 named in the first and supplementary charge sheets of the CBI in the 2G scam were to appear before the court on Friday, but Karim Morani of Cineyug Films got an exemption as he is admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.

His bail application will be heard May 10.

Among those who were present in the court were former communications minister A Raja, his personal aide R K Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa.

Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra of Unitech, and three officials of Reliance ADAG -- Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara -- are also accused in the case.

Raja, Chandolia, Behura, Shahid Balwa, Asif Balwa, Agarwal, Goenka, Chandra, Doshi, Nair and Pipara are at present in judicial custody.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in the allocation of airwaves to telecom operators that caused huge losses to the national exchequer.