[1]Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal was included in the CBI charge sheet only as a witness and not as an accused because she had opted out of decision-making in Kalaignar TV way back in June 2007, much before the spectrum allocations happened.
The charge sheet presented by the CBI to the special court in Delhi on Monday detailed the circuitous flow of `200 crore from Swan Telecom to Kalaignar TV and tagged along the TV channel’s managing director Sharad Kumar and DMK MP Kanimozhi as co-accused, but let off Dayalu Ammal even though she held 60 per cent stake in the channel. Ms Kanimozhi holds 20 per cent.
This was because Dayalu Ammal had “categorically” informed the board of Kalaignar TV that “in view of her old age and deteriorating health, she cannot be expected to give any attention to the company’s affairs and requested Mr Sharad Kumar to exercise degree of skill which may reasonably be expected of a person his knowledge, experience, caliber and status,” the CBI charge sheet said.
It said Dayalu Ammal had told the company board that she did not know any language other than Tamil and that she would attend its meetings “only to suffice the legal requirement to have quorum and not for anything else.” This was also informed to the Registrar of Companies while executing the incorporation documents.
CBI had examined Dayalu Ammal along with Ms Kanimozhi on March 11 at Kalaignar TV headquarters in Chennai. The agency has also included chief minister M Karunanidhi’s nephew P. Amirtham, one of the directors of Kalaignar TV, as a witness in the case.
Many opposition political leaders, including AIADMK chief Ms Jayalalithaa and BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman, have raised the question as to why Dayalu Ammal was kept out of the charge sheet even though she holds 60 per cent stake in Kalaignar TV while including Kanimozhi among the accused.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/dayalu0jpgcropdisplayjpg-260