Kanimozhi bail plea deferred

The CBI Special Court has deferred its order on the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi till May 20. Kanimozhi, daugther of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, arrived in the court on Saturday accompanied by her husband G Arvindan and DMK leader T R Baalu. State election results, announced yesterday, saw the ouster of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu.       

Special CBI Judge O P Saini did not state any reason for deferring the hearing. However, CBI lawyer A K Singh told reporters outside the court that it was because the order was not ready. Saini had reserved the order on 43 year old Kanimozhi's bail plea on May 7 after hearing the arguments of public prosecutor U U Lalit and her lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

The public prosecutor had told the special CBI court in the previous hearing that Kanimozhi was an active brain behind the money transfer made to Kalaignar TV, accusing her of complicity in the entire transaction and being in regular touch with former communications minister A Raja. Jethmalani, on the other hand, had said that the mastermind of the entire scam was  Raja, who's now in judicial custody, asking the special CBI court to allow Kanimozhi to go as she is a woman, mother and member of Parliament.

Kanimozhi, along with Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar, have been accused of criminal conspiracy and accepting a bribe of Rs 200 crore from Shahid Balwa's company DB Realty under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In its supplementary chargesheet, CBI had said, “investigations have revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, Dynamix Realty, a partnership firm of DB Realty Ltd and other DB group companies, paid Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV Pvt. Ltd during December 2008 to August 2009, following a circuitous route through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd (DB group holds 49 per cent equity in it).”