2G: Kanimozhi, others seen as likely to get bail today

The special CBI court at Patiala House in Delhi, looking into the 2G spectrum allocation case, today began hearing the bail pleas of Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, and six co-accused - Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar, filmmaker Karim Morani, former telecom minister A Raja's private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa, and their colleague Rajeev Agarwal.

Arguing strongly for bail, the counsel for Kanimozhi told the court that the investigation is over and charges have been framed, so no question of tampering with evidence is there now and custody of the accused is no longer required. He also said that the court can impose heavy conditions if it wants for granting bail and can ask that the accused be available whenever asked to appear.

The Central Bureau of Investigation will reply to the arguments after 2 pm as the post-lunch hearing resumes. Reportedly, the CBI is now unlikely to oppose bail as charges have already been framed, and moreover it has not found much evidence against Kanimozhi.

She has been charged with accepting bribes, criminal conspiracy to cheat the exchequer and criminal breach of trust, and has been behind bars since May 2011.
 
Kanimozhi's mother Rajathi Ammal and husband Arvindam were present in court with her.

On Saturday, apart from Kanimozhi and Raja, the special court ordered framing of charges against 15 others for irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation. All have been charged under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code for alleged criminal breach of trust that can attract a life sentence. The other charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, accepting bribes against most accused makes them liable to jail terms of between three and seven years.

The court in its order said there was evidence that Raja, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and others conspired to allocate ''valuable spectrum'', entrusted to them as public servants, to Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless illegally to cause ''wrongful gain to the companies and thereby Section 409 is invoked against them''.