Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) It was jail for powerful DMK MP Kanimozhi, daughter of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, with a special court Friday citing the “magnitude of the crime” to refuse her bail in the 2G spectrum case, one of the biggest corruption scams in the country.

Also sent to jail was her close aide Sharad Kumar, managing director of Kalaignar TV, in which Kanimozhi has a stake.

Addressing a packed courtroom at the Patiala House premises, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini said: “Considering the magnitude of the crime, nature and enormity of the allegation, character of evidence on record and the apprehension that the witnesses may be influenced in case the accused are released on bail, I have no hesitation in holding that both accused have failed to make out prima facie case for bail.”

Kanimozhi, 43, who was accompanied in court by her husband Aravindan, tried to regain her composure after the judgment was pronounced and later told her supporters “I was expecting the decision”.

There was shock as the ruling was read out. Her colleagues in the DMK and security guards held each other tearfully as she was taken into the lock-up in the Patiala House court premises.

Co-accused — and former communications minister — A. Raja also looked stunned. The DMK MP is already in jail in connection with the case, related to irregularities in the allocation of airwaves to telecom companies that caused huge losses to the exchequer. Fourteen people, including several corporate leaders, have been charged in the case.

The court allowed Kanimozhi to carry her medicines, books and reading glasses to Tihar Jail. It even allowed her home food and a cell with an attached bathroom, but declined her plea to continue wearing her nose pin while in jail.

R.N. Sharma, deputy inspector general, prisons, said there would no VIP treatment for Kanimozhi, who is used to comforts of high life.

“She has been given a separate cell with attached toilet, the cell has television, fans and light. As far as food is concerned she can have south Indian food. This is not a special allowance as such because we give many other jail inmates south Indian food like idli, vada and sambar,” Sharma told IANS.

The CBI had named Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar as co-conspirators in its April 25 supplementary chargesheet after it traced an illegal money trail of Rs.214 crore in the scam.

Also present in the courtroom Friday were the other accused. The first chargesheet had named, besides Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Raja’s aide R.K. Chandolia, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra.

Three officials of ADAG, Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara, were also named.

The supplementary chargesheet had listed Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar, Cineyug Films’ Karim Morani as well as Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Aggarwal of Kusegaon Realty. As of Friday, 13 of them are in judicial custody.

All were present in court except for Morani, who has got exemption from personal appearance due to his ill health, and Pipara, undergoing treatment for a heart problem in hospital.

“No one will be spared,” a senior CBI official told IANS.

In its verdict, the court said: “The allegations against her (Kanimozhi) are that Dynamix Realty, which is a partnership firm of Dynamix Balwa Group companies, which also owns Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, paid Rs.200 crore as illegal gratification to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, which is also controlled by affiliates of Dravida Munnetra Kadgam to which accused Raja belongs and such fund transfer was facilitated by Morani, Kumar and Kanimozhi through their companies…”

The court verdict, exactly a week after the DMK was routed in the Tamil Nadu polls, could not have come at a worse time.

According to political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan, this is a “litmus test” for the party.

While leaders of the DMK were not available in Chennai for comments on the developments, other parties in the state capital said it could be the beginning of the end of the DMK.

“The fish rots from the head. The DMK party owes its sustenance to Karunanidhi’s family. Here the leader’s family is involved and DMK will decline,” DMDK leader Panruti S. Ramachandran told IANS.

In New Delhi, however, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi made it clear that there “is absolutely no impact on the coalition, which remains as before”.