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New Delhi/Bangalore: Home at Diwali for one, behind bars for the others. Of the nine
people, in jail for alleged involvement in corruption, only former
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh got bail Monday while DMK MP
Kanimozhi and six others arrested in the 2G scam as well as former
Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned themselves to a
dark festival of lights.
The cases of the high profile personalities arrested in various
cases of graft - Amar Singh for the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal in
parliament, Kanimozhi and six others for the 2G spectrum allotment
scam and Yeddyurappa for land deals - came up Monday.
While the Delhi High Court gave an ailing Amar Singh a reprieve, a
special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court took up the
case of the seven 2G accused and decided to reserve bail orders
till Nov 3. The Karnataka High Court put off Yeddyurappa's plea
till Oct 28.
Diwali is on Wednesday.
The CBI told Special Court Judge O.P. Saini that it had no
objection to bail being given to Kanimozhi, directors of Kusegaon
Asif Balwa and Rajeev B. Agarwal, Cineyug Film's Karim Morani and
Kalaignar TV's managing director Sharad Kumar.
However, the investigating agency opposed bail for Swan Telecom
promoter Shahid Balwa and R.K. Chandolia, who was the secretary of
former telecom minister A. Raja, who has also been jailed in the
case.
Kanimozhi, 43, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi's daughter, who has been
in jail since May 20, was charged along with other 16 accused,
including Raja, with criminal breach of trust amongst other
things.
It could become a political hot potato with Karunanidhi, a key
ally of the ruling Congress, last week meeting Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The DMK was
hopeful that she would be out on bail.
"Kanimozhi should have got bail earlier... there is lot of
politics behind the scene," DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan told
IANS.
The case, entrusted to the CBI and involving award of scarce
airwaves to new telecom players in 2007-08, is known commonly as
the 2G (second generation spectrum allocation) case.
Amar Singh's future was being decided at the same time as the CBI
court was pronouncing its ruling.
Observing that his health condition was "very critical", the Delhi
High Court granted bail to the Rajya Sabha MP.
"Keeping the medical reports of the petitioner (Amar Singh) into
view, it seems to me that the health condition of the petitioner
is very critical. Even the doctor had advised him not to go in a
crowded area and remain in a very hygienic condition to avoid
infection. Obviously, the jail is not such a place where the
condition as required could be made available," Justice Suresh
Kait observed.
The court has asked Amar Singh, who underwent a renal transplant
in September 2009, to furnish surety and personal bonds of Rs.50
lakh each.
He was held Sep 6 for his alleged involvement in an attempt to
bribe MPs ahead of the July 2008 parliament trust vote.
On July 22, 2008, then BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir
Bhagora and Ashok Argal waved currency notes in the Lok Sabha
ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote
in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.
While Amar Singh headed home, Yeddyurappa, the BJP's first chief
minister in the south, prepared to spend a lonely Diwali behind
bars with the Karnataka High Court adjourning the bail hearing on
grounds that the arguments were inconclusive.
He was arrested and sent to judicial custody by a special
Lokayukta (ombudsman) court in two of the five corruption and
illegal land deal cases against him.
(Minu Jain can be contacted at minu.jain@ians.in)
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