Even as the DMK apparently disowned former communications minister A. Raja and rallied behind beleaguered Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, a member of the party’s first family, trouble for her continued on Saturday with the special CBI court asking her and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar to appear before it on a daily basis. The court,
meanwhile, reserved its order on their bail pleas for May 14, a day after the Assembly elections results for Tamil Nadu will be announced.
Strongly opposing the bail applications by Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Kumar, the counsel for the CBI, Mr U.U. Lalit, argued that she was “controlling everything” in Kalaignar TV and pleaded that the court should remand both of them to judicial custody like any other accused in the case. After day-long arguments by the CBI counsel, special judge O.P. Saini reserved the order on the bail plea till May 14.
While the two have to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is also probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, they will now need the special court’s permission. The ED has called all five accused, named by the CBI in its supplementary chargesheet, for questioning on May 12, the day that, according to the special court order, Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Kumar have to be present before it.
The ED is also expected to question Ms Kanimozhi about alleged donations made by certain telecom companies, which are under the scanner, to Tamil Maiyam, an NGO on whose board the DMK MP is a director.
Opposing the bail plea of the DMK MP, Mr Lalit argued that the 2G money trail leads to Kalaignar TV in which she has a 20 per cent stake. Arguing that no lenient approach should be taken regarding Ms Kanimozhi and others, Mr Lalit argued that she was in fact the active brain behind Kalaignar TV. “It is impossible to believe that someone from the family with a stake in the channel will not control the channel,” the counsel argued before the court. “Ms Kanimozhi (a director of Kalaignar TV), with 20 per cent, says she doesn’t know anything. The other (Dayalu Ammal), with 60 per cent, has already stated she was not involved. So who took the decisions then? Was it only the other 20 per cent (Sharad Kumar) who participated in the decision-making processes,” Mr Lalit asked.
The CBI counsel also argued that Ms Kanimozhi had been in regular touch with former telecom minister A. Raja, also an accused, during the launch of the TV channel. “This lady was the controlling brain behind Kalaignar TV. One can’t imagine `200 crore would be ploughed back so soon without a guiding hand. We have established the proximity of the period and the money trail. Mr Raja was definitely close to Ms Kanimozhi, not so much to Sharad Kumar,” claimed Mr Lalit.
He also countered the argument of Ms Kanimozhi’s lawyer, Mr Ram Jethmalani, which he had presented in court Friday, that it was not she but Mr Raja, the prime accused in the case, who was responsible for the scam. Mr Jethmalani had on Friday refuted all the allegations levelled against Ms Kanimozhi and passed the blame for the scandal on to Mr Raja, who is also a DMK leader.
Mr Lalit said the money paid to Kalaignar TV travelled through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt. Ltd, which were “shell companies”. The CBI counsel pointed out that no agreements were executed between these companies despite the fact that there was a transaction of a huge amount of money — `200 crore. “Transferring such a huge amount of money without any agreement creates suspicion,” Mr Lalit added.
Mr Lalit said Dynamix Realty, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd, and even Cineyug Films Pvt. Ltd, were controlled by Mr Shahid Usman Balwa, one of the beneficiaries of spectrum allocation. He added that after media reports relating to the investigation of the 2G scam surfaced, the accused decided to return the money to Dynamix Realty via the same route that the money had travelled to Kalaignar TV.
Detailing the roles of Mr Asif Balwa and Mr Rajeev Agarwal, who are directors of Balwa group firm Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd, and of Mr Karim Morani, who is the director of another group firm, Cineyug Films Pvt. Ltd, Mr Lalit said they were also responsible for the money trail.