New Delhi:
Kanimozhi, whose father M Karunanidhi heads the DMK party, still does not know if she will be arrested for allegedly accepting a 214-crore bribe that was a part of India's largest swindle, the 2G scam.
Kanimozhi had applied for bail earlier this month via her lawyer, Ram Jethmalani. But a special court in Delhi that's trying the 2G scam was meant to rule on her bail today but has postponed its decision to May 20. If it rules against her, she will be taken to Tihar Jail.
A Raja, a Dalit leader from her party, has been there since February, for allegedly conceiving and executing the 2G scam when he was Telecom Minister in 2008.
Kanimozhi was accompanied by her husband and a few MPs from her party.
Kanimzohi's corruption charges come in the midst of a weak political phase for the DMK. Yesterday, it posted one of its worst results ever in an election in Tamil Nadu. With its allies, it won barely 30 seats compared to its political rival, the AIADMK, which sailed home with nearly 200 seats, including some won by its partners.
Analysts said the vote against the DMK has been a vote against perceived corruption among the party and the government (Mr Karunanidhi was Chief Minister till he lost yesterday's Assembly elections).
Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, owns Kalaignar TV, along with her stepmother Dayalu Ammal and Sharath Kumar, the Managing Director of the TV channel.
Mr Raja is accused of selling mobile network licenses and 2G spectrum at heavily discounted rates to companies that were not eligible to buy them. One of these firms, Swan Telecom, allegedly repaid Mr Raja with a cheque for 214 crores. Routed through a maze of companies to avoid detection, the cheque was deposited finally with Kalaignar TV. The CBI has rejected Kanimozhi's claims that the money was part of an investment deal that was sent back when the deal collapsed.
Mr Jethmalani had also argued that Kanimozhi was not an active decision-maker in the affairs of Kalaignar TV. Controversially, he passed the buck to Mr Raja and Mr Kumar, suggesting that they were responsible for the illicit money trail. The DMK clarified outside court that this was legal strategy, but political analysts declared that to save Kanimozhi, the party seemed okay with nailing Mr Raja.
The 2G scam has sent some of India's most high-profile telecom executives to jail for criminal conspiracy and cheating. Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra of Uninor Wireless and Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara of Reliance Telecom have all been in Tihar Jail for nearly a month.
Two bureaucrats who were Mr Raja's close aides- RK Chandolia and Siddharth Behura - have also been arrested.