23.5.11

Kani checks into Tihar



The high and mighty are falling one by one in the 2G scam case. Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, was sent to Tihar Jail when a special CBI court rejected her bail plea citing the “magnitude of the crime”. Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar was also sent to jail. The “crime” is one of the most celebrated political bribery cases in the country’s history, and has already snared top politicians like ex-telecom minister A Raja, top bureaucrats like ex-telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, real estate magnates like Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty’s Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka. Coming on the heels of its humiliating defeat in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, this is a big blow for the DMK, However, it is not likely to have any immediate impact on DMK-Congress ties. The history of vendetta politics in Tamil Nadu has enhanced the DMK’s need to put up with the Congress. Unlike in the past, when it almost trumpeted each high-profile arrest as an achievement, the Congress was muted in its reaction. Kanimozhi, who is a Rajya Sabha member, made a plea in vain for bail citing her lack of involvement in the affairs of Kalaignar TV, where she is a director and holds with her stepmother Dayalu Ammal 80% stake, and through which a Rs 200-crore kickback from the DB Group was allegedly routed in return for the 2G telecom licence. She broke down as she was led out of court by a woman constable to a lock-up room, from where she was taken to jail. “It was expected,” she said while on her way to the lock-up. She is being kept in a single-person, 15-ft by 10ft cell in Jail No. 6 in Tihar, which has attached bathroom space, a fan, and a 6 feet by 2 feet cement bed. In his order, special CBI judge O P Saini rejected Kanimozhi’s bail plea, saying, “The magnitude of the crime and apprehension that witnesses may be influenced by the accused if they are given bail.”

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