Supreme Court defers Kanimozhi bail plea to June 20

An apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice Swatantra Kumar asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to inform the court what happened to the Rs.200 crore which it has alleged was paid to Kalaignar TV as bribe.

Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar each have a 20 percent stake in Kalaignar TV, which allegedly received Rs.200 crore through a "circuitous" route from Shahid Usman Balwa, the promotor of Swan Telecom,which is one of the companies that recieved 2G spectrum when the DMK's
A. Raja was the telecom minister in 2008.

Raja, who quit after the government auditor Comptroller and Auditor General of India said Raja's decision to allocate the licenses on a first-come-first-served basis rather than through an auction caused a notional loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore, as also Balwa, are among the 14 people jailed in the case.

The court asked the CBI to state the loss caused to the national exchequer in the issuance of 2G licenses, as also the status of the case.

The court gave seven days time to the CBI to file its reply and another three days time to Kanimozhi and Kumar to file their rejoinder.

Kanimozhi, the 43-year-old daughter of DMK chief M. Karunanidhi and the party’s Rajya Sabha member, and Sharat Kumar approached the apex court after the Delhi High Court dismissed their bail applications June 8.

Kanimozhi and Kumar, named as co-conspirator in the supplementary charge sheet for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.200 crore, were arrested May 20 after the special CBI court dismissed their bail pleas in the case.