Payment to Kalaignar TV was for advertisements: India Cements

In a statement issued here, the company said: "The company wishes to clarify that it (payments) relates to commercial advertisement contracts for its products and cricket franchise Chennai Super Kings, made in the normal course of business."

The statement was issued in the wake of news reports that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was looking into payments made by India Cements to Kalaignar TV and whether it was to enable the latter to pay its 'loan' to the DB Group of companies.
Kalaignar TV, running a bouquet of Tamil channels, is majority-owned by family members of DMK chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi.

Sixty percent of Kalaignar TV is owned by Karunanidhi's second wife Dayalu Ammal, 20 percent by his daughter Kanimozhi and the balance by the company's managing director Sharad Kumar.

Both Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar are lodged in Tihar Jail after the CBI had named them as co-conspirators in the supplementary chargesheet for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.214 crore.

They were arrested May 20 after a trial court dismissed their bail pleas.The investigating agency said the bribe was routed through Kalaignar TV.

It is alleged that Kalaignar TV received Rs.214 crore through a "circuitous" route from Shahid Usman Balwa, the promoter of Swan Telecom, which is one of the companies that received 2G spectrum when the DMK's A. Raja was communications minister in 2008.