Karunanidhi reaches Tihar jail

DMK chief to meet Kanimozhi in jail

Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi reached Tihar jail in New Delhi on Tuesday evening to meet his daughter Kanimozhi.

This will be Karunanidhi’s second meeting with Kanimozhi at Tihar jail.

On May 23 evening, the 87-year-old former Tamil Nadu chief minister met his youngest daughter at the Superintendent's office in Tihar jail and spent over one hour with her.

Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi Ammal, her husband Aravindan and DMK Parlimentary Party leader T.R. Baalu accompanied the DMK chief.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi, forcing her to go back to the Tihar jail where she is lodged since her arrest on May 20 in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The DMK lawmaker has been asked by the Supreme Court to approach the trial court again for her bail in the case involving rigged sale of telecom licences for 2G spectrum and airwaves to favoured companies by the then telecoms minister A Raja, belonging to her party DMK.

The apex court said she can move the special court for bail for bail under a provision that allows for "leniency for women, children and old people in matters of bail." after the charges are framed by the investigating agency CBI.

Kanimozhi is a stake holder in the Kalaignar TV, which is allegedly one of the beneficiaries of the 2G scam money. She has been chargesheeted as the controlling mind behind the TV company by the CBI.

The CBI has chargesheeted Kanimozhi as a co-conspirator in the scam and for allegedly accepting a Rs 214 crore bribe in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal that saw her party colleague and former Telecoms Minister A Raja going to Tihar jail.

CBI to question Kanimozhi before March 31

2G scam: Kanimozhi to be questioned by CBI.

Kanimozhi - a DMK MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi - will be questioned by the CBI before March 31 in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, well informed sources said Thursday.

"Her questioning is imminent. Kanimozhi will be questioned before March 31," a top Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS.

The CBI sources said Kanimozhi would be summoned for questions related to the flow of over Rs.200 crore from Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa's DB Realty firm to Kalaignar TV, a regional Tamil channel in which Karunanidhi's family members allegedly have a majority stake. Kanimozhi alone is said to have 20 percent stake in the TV channel.

Balwa is one of the accused in the scam and his Swan Telecom was allegedly favoured by former communications minister and DMK MP A. Raja in the allocation of second generation (2G) spectrum licences.

CBI is probing if there was any quid pro quo under which Balwa transferred funds to the TV channel and in return got 2G spectrum licences at throwaway prices. Balwa is already in jail along with Raja.

CBI has been asked by the Supreme Court to file charges in the case by March 31 and the sources said Kanimozhi's examination is important for finalising the chargesheet.

The sources said Sharat Kumar, managing director of Kalaignar TV, would also be questioned in the next couple of days as he has already been summoned by the CBI March 8. Kumar has denied the flow of funds from Balwa's company.

The sources, however, ruled out the questioning of Karunanidhi's second wife Dayalu Ammal as she is believed to be a "sleeping partner" in the channel and "won't fetch any information".