CBI not against DMK MP Kanimozhi's bail

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail plea of five corporate honchos who are in jail for over six months for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam after recording CBI’s statement that that it is not against bail sought by DMK MP Kanimozhi and four others in the trial court.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu heard the arguments on the plea of corporate executives — Unitech Wireless' MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surrendra Pipara — who have approached the apex court for bail.

They have moved the apex court challenging Delhi High Court and trial court orders turning down their bail pleas. CBI opposed their bail plea saying that they can approach the trial court for the relief but clarified that the agency is not against the bail plea of five other accused including Kanimozhi, which is pending in the trail court, on the ground that the maximum sentence for the charges levelled against them is five years while in the case of others it is seven years.

The corporate executives, who have been charged under various offences under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, contended that they should be granted bail as charges have already been framed and there is no chance of their tampering with the evidence.

The bench, while reserving its order, expressed anguish over the media reports of the apex court proceedings in the case. It said proceedings in the trial court would not get influenced by these reports.