2G: Court to Hear Arguments on Bail Plea of Raja, Kanimozhi on May 30

A Delhi court would hear on May 30 the arguments on bail pleas of former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and seven other accused, chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate in a 2G scam-related money laundering case.

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court would hear on May 30 the arguments on bail pleas of former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and seven other accused, chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate in a 2G scam-related money laundering case.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini kept the hearing on May 30 after special public prosecutor U U Lalit informed that he would file the replies on the bail pleas by then.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the accused told the court that scrutiny of documents filed by ED was going on as they have not yet received the complete sets of papers filed along with the charge sheet.

The court also directed ED to supply all the documents to the accused during the day itself and asked the defence counsel to complete the scrutiny by May 30.

All the accused, except M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, appeared before the court.            

The counsel appearing for Ammal moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance for her on health grounds. Her counsel told the court that there is unsoundness of mind as far as Ammal's health condition is concerned, which was allowed.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal, Bollywood producer Karim Morani, Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar and P Amirtham had on May 26 appeared before the court in pursuance to the summons issued against them and had moved their bail pleas.

They were summoned as accused by the court which had taken cognisance of the ED's charge sheet filed against 19 accused -- 10 individuals and nine companies.

The money laundering case relates to the 2G scam in which the DMK-run Kalaignar TV was allegedly paid Rs 200 crore by the promoters of Swan Telecom.

ED has claimed the transaction of Rs 200 crore, which was allegedly paid to Kalaignar TV, was not genuine and it was a bribe for grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies.