Charges framed against Raja, Kanimozhi

Duo, 17 others accused in case plead not guilty

Charges were framed against former Union telecom minister A Raja, DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal and daughter Kanimozhi, and 16 others on Friday by a special court here for “parking” illegal gratification of Rs 200 crore in Kalaignar TV.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and opted to face trial in the case, an offshoot of the 2G spectrum case. 

Special Judge O P Saini then fixed November 11 as the next date of hearing. With this, the court has paved the way for trial and if convicted, the accused will face a maximum sentence of up to seven years.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on April 25 filed the charge sheet naming Ammal, Kanimozhi and others as accused. 

The ED had claimed that the DMK-run Kalaignar TV was allegedly paid Rs 200 crore by the promoters of Swan Telecom in the “garb of legitimate financial transactions”. 

It also said the money paid was “illegal gratification for and on behalf of A Raja and his associates” for allotting 2G spectrum and licence.

Besides Ammal, Kanimozhi and Raja, 7 people and 9 companies were named as accused in the charge sheet, including Shahid Usman Balwa, Vinod K Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv B Agarwal, P Amirtham, Karim Morani and Sharad Kumar. 

The companies included Swan Telecom, Kusegaon Realty, Cineyug Films, Kalaignar TV, Dynamix Realty and DB Realty.

While framing charges, the court said there was enough material on record which makes out a "prima facie" case against all the accused.

The court said, Raja in connivance with Ammal, Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, was actually involved in parking the illegal gratification received from Shahid U Balwa and Vinod K Goenka in Kalaignar TV. 

Raja was also “actually involved in the process of refund of the proceeds of crime of Rs 223.55 crore in order to wriggle out of the charges of crime and thus Raja has committed the offence of money-laundering,” it said.

According to the charge sheet, Swan Telecom used their group entity Dynamix Realty to give money to Kalaignar TV through Kusegaon Realty and Cineyug in the garb of legitimate financial transactions. Later Kalaignar TV returned the money.