2G case: Court defers order on framing of charges to 31 October

A special court on Monday deferred an order on the framing of charges in the money laundering case related to the 2G scam involving former telecom minister A Raja, MP Kanimozhi, DMK Supremo Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal and 16 others, to 31 October.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who was scheduled to pass the order on framing of charges today, deferred it till 31 October, saying the order was not yet ready.

''Order is not ready...Put up for order on October 31,'' the judge said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had charged 19 accused, including 10 individuals and nine companies, with colluding in the Rs200-crore money transaction, which was not ''bonafide'' and ''genuine'' and was in fact a ''bribe for grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies'' by Raja.

The agency had claimed that the series of transactions involving Rs200 crore from DB group company to DMK-run Kalaignar TV through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd were not ''genuine business transactions''.

Charges have also been filed against Swan telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Bollywood producer Karim Morani, and Kalaignar TV directors Sharad Kumar and P Amirthan.

Companies named in the case include Swan Telecom, Kusegaon Realty, Cineyug Media and Entertainment, Kalaignar TV, Dynamix Realty, Eversmile Construction Company, Conwood Construction and Developers, DB Realty and Nihar Construction.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The accused, however, claim there was no evidence before the ED to support the allegations.

The counsel appearing for Raja and Kanimozhi had argued in the court that documents filed along with the ED's complaint nowhere show that they were connected with the Rs200-crore transaction from DB group to Kalaignar TV.

Similarly, other co-accused, including Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, had argued that there were no evidence to connect them with the alleged crime and its proceeds.

According to ED, Ms. Kanimozhi and co-accused Sharad Kumar, MD of Kalaignar TV were having 20 per cent stake each in the TV channel while Dayalu Ammal was holding the rest 60 per cent stake. All the individual accused in the case are presently out on bail.

The ED had claimed that its probe into the case emanated 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).