Chennai:
The investigation into the 2G scam seems to be snaking its way to the front door of the DMK. The CBI is connecting the dots between former Telecom Minister A Raja and the companies he allegedly colluded with; the dotted line seems to suggest that the kickbacks paid to Mr Raja were routed into a TV channel owned by the first family of the DMK. The channel has, however, denied any link to the scam.
The CBI believes that a Rs 200-crore cheque, which was a kickback in the 2G scam, was paid in 2009 to Kalaignar TV, owned by M Karunanidhi's family. His wife, MK Dayaluammal, owns 60 percent of Kalaignar TV; his daughter, Kanimozhi, owns another 20 percent.
The bribe was allegedly being paid by Shahid Balwa, a promoter of DB Realty and Swan Telecom, which was allegedly one of the two major beneficiaries of Mr Raja's spectrum largesse when he was minister. Swan Telecom was granted its license for a little over 1500 crores and sold stake to Etisalat, a Dubai-based firm for nearly 4,200 crores. Mr Balwa was arrested by the CBI on Tuesday in Mumbai and was brought to Delhi so that the CBI can interrogate him along with Mr Raja, who was arrested earlier this month.
The CBI said in court on Thursday that it has gone through bank transactions to uncover that Mr Balwa's DB Group and its subsidiaries used an event management company in Mumbai named Cineyug to transfer the money to Chennai, where another series of transactions helped guide the money to its final destination - Kalaignar TV.
But Kalaignar TV has denied any link with the 2G scam. It has said that Cineyug had indeed invested in its shares earlier. But owing to valuation differences, it was treated as a loan and their Rs 200 crore was returned with interest in 2009. It also says there was nothing illegal about the transaction because they had followed all rules and the Income Tax department was aware of this.
In Chennai, a DMK spokesperson told NDTV that the party "does not know about the money from the DB Group to Kalaignar TV...not only corruption cases, all cases have to be expedited."
A Delhi court on Thursday allowed the CBI to keep Mr Raja in its custody for another two days for extended questioning with Mr Balwa.
Along with Mr Balwa's Swan Telecom, real estate company Unitech has been shortlisted by the CBI as one of Mr Raja's partners in crime. Like Swan, Unitech was granted 2G licenses by Mr Raja and then sold some of its equity to a foreign partner, Telenor, for a massive profit. Sources say action will be taken soon against Unitech.