CBI clamps down, Kani to be grilled on 2G role
The DMK decision to pull out from the UPA and offer it only issue-based support appears to have come at a crucial juncture as far as the ongoing CBI probe into the 2G spectrum scam is concerned.
The investigating agency is set to grill Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and the daughter of DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi.
Former communications minister A. Raja is already behind bars in connection with the 2G scam and the CBI is also preparing to question his wife, Parameswari, as part of the probe.
CBI sources said Ms Kanimozhi and Ms Parameswari would be called for questioning by the agency before it files its charge-sheet by the March 31 deadline.
Ms Kanomozhi is likely to be questioned by the agency about the `200 crore loan which was reportedly given by Shahid Balwa’s Swan Telecom (now Etisalat-DB Telecom Private Ltd) to Kalaignar TV. Mr Balwa was arrested shortly after Mr Raja.
The Chennai-based channel is owned by Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Karunanidhi’s wife wife Dayalu Ammal. The agency had raided the office of Kalaignar TV on February 18. “The TV channel, however, maintained that the payment was meant to be an investment that was returned after a difference in evaluation over equity.
The agency wants to question Ms Kanimozi over this. She will also be confronted with certain documents which were recovered by the agency during searches,” a CBI source said.
Mr Raja’s wife Parameswari was on the board of directors of a company in which her husband allegedly made huge investments shortly after he became a minister in the UPA-I government. Mr Raja allegedly invested in Green House Promoters in which his wife was a director.
CBI sources said she resigned from the company board but transferred her shares to Mr Raja’s niece Malarvizhi.
Ms Parameswari is likely to be questioned about the alleged stakes of Mr Raja’s family members in Green House and also about her bank transactions.
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