CBI seeks Kanimozhi custody: She’s close to Raja,active brain

Kanimozhi,daughter of DMK chief Karunanidhi,will now have to be present in court daily throughout the next week from 10 am to 5 pm as Special CBI Judge O P Saini reserved the decision on her bail plea and that of Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar for May 14 — a day after declaration of the Assembly election results in Tamil Nadu.

Later in the day,judge Saini dismissed their applications for exemption from personal appearance in court. They had said they “needed time to prepare documents for appearing before the Enforcement Directorate”. Kanimozhi and Kumar have been summoned by ED on May 12 and 13.

Pleading her innocence,Kanimozhi’s lawyer Ram Jethmalani had argued yesterday that “no evidence was recovered that Kanimozhi was part of the Board of the channel or attended Board meetings when the alleged cash transfer took place. She was just a shareholder and not a director who had signed any document during the alleged transfer of money.”

Rejecting the defence contention,Lalit said: “Kumar alone cannot be held responsible. He controlled everything on paper,but the active brain was Kanimozhi… she was also a former director of Kalaignar TV and resigned only when she did not get clearance from Ministry of Home Affairs.”

Pointing out that while Kumar and Kanimozhi hold 20 per cent share each in the channel,Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal holds 60 per cent stake,the CBI said: “If a family holds 80 per cent share in a company,it is impossible to think that anyone other than its members could run the company. Dayalu has gone on record to state that she doesn’t understand any language other than Tamil and was not part of the company’s affairs,so there must be someone else controlling the channel.”

“Their (Kumar and Kanimozhi) complicity in the case is clearly made out,” Lalit said.

The agency also punched holes in the defence claim that the Rs 200 crore transfer was a genuine cash transaction undertaken by way of loans and paid back.

“No agreement was signed between Dynamix Realty and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Ltd for transfer of Rs 209 crore… money was transferred in December 2008 but the first documentation began in January 2010 after the registration of FIR,” Lalit said.

“The return trail also discloses a pattern when everybody came together because the heat was on and it was too difficult to handle… the dates are crucial,the manner of transaction suspicious.”

According to CBI,Swan Telecom was controlled by Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka — both are in jail — and they also controlled Dynamix Realty. The amount was paid to Kalaignar TV through a circuitous route of “shell companies” Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd,the agency said.

“I have never seen any company lending four times its turnover without any document…Transferring such a huge amount of money without any agreement creates suspicion,” said Lalit.

Like the old times

Unlike Friday when they sat in opposite rows,Kanimozhi and Raja were seen talking,laughing in court on Saturday. Raja even touched the feet of Kanimozhi’s mother when she came to court. A DMK member,however,told The Sunday Express: “Raja committed a mistake. Kanimozhi is Karunanidhi’s daughter,we have to stand by her.”