Kanimozhi Advocate shifts blame on Raja

Kanimozhi Advocate shifts blame on Raja

Faced with the prospect of being jailed for alleged complicity in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi sought to distance herself from the main accused, former telecom minister A Raja, as evident on Friday[6-5-2011].


Arguing why she should not be jailed, Kanimozhi’s counsel Ram Jethmalani sharply differentiated her from Raja, maintaining that she was not party to the transfer of Rs 200 crore that the DMK-controlled Kalaignar TV got from DB Group, allegedly in return for the licence allotted to Swan Telecom. “Let us assume that at his instance (Raja’s), Rs 200 crore was routed to the TV channel. What is the offence committed by me? I am only a shareholder,” the veteran lawyer argued on behalf of Kanimozhi. “It is A Raja who could be accused of conspiracy, not Kanimozhi,” Jethmalani said.


He qualified his argument by emphasizing that he was quoting the CBI on the fund transfer, and he did not want to prejudice the case of other accused. But the argument clearly was that while others could be guilty, Kanmozhi wasn’t.


“I do not suggest that everybody is innocent in this case. But so far as I am concerned, I was not handling the day-to-day affairs of the company, which have been mentioned in the chargesheet,” Jethmalani said as he sought to disentangle his client from Raja as well as Kalaignar TV’s managing director Sharad Kumar.


On November 14 2010, when Raja was pressured to resign as telecom minister, Karunanidhi hailed him as "one who would always retained the party's confidence". The DMK supreme went on to add that "Raja had discharged his duties with honesty, fairness and sense of duty". But that was before his own daughter was indicted in the scam. Now A.Raja becomes the victim for the sake of kanimozhi.


On 7-5-2011 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi's bail plea, claiming that she is the controlling mind behind Kalaignar TV. The CBI also pleaded in the court to send Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV CEO Sharad Kumar to judicial custody.


After a long argument by Special Public Prosecutor UU Lalit, who appeared for the CBI, Judge OP Saini reserved the hearing on bail plea of Kanimozhi and others till May 14. The court also asked Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar to appear before the court daily till May 14.


However, Vijay Agarwal, lawyer for co-accused Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, said that the CBI was adopting a "hostile" attitude against his clients while not arresting Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar who had allegedly received bribes. We have to wait and see what the justice going to do?