NEW DELHI (TIP):
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and seven others, chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a 2G scam-related money laundering case, were on Aug 20 granted bail by a special CBI court. “All bail applications are allowed,” Special CBI Judge OP Saini said and asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh each and a surety of similar amount. Earlier during the day, the court granted bail to DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, who was also chargesheeted in the case.

Ammal (83) was given bail on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the like amount. The court, however, dismissed the plea of Ammal seeking discharge in the case on the ground that she was not well and was suffering from unsoundness of mind. The ED had chargesheeted 19 accused — 10 individuals and nine firms — in the case saying that the transaction of Rs 200 crore, which was allegedly paid to DMK-run Kalaignar TV, was “not genuine” and it was a “bribe for grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies”.

Ammal was holding a 60% stake in Kalaignar TV while Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar were holding a 20% stake each, the agency had said. It had also claimed that its probe into the case emanates from the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the accused had allegedly conspired and committed offences under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the ED had named Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani, Ammal and P Amirtham as accused in the case. They all had moved bail applications which were allowed by the court.