With the arrest of DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi in the 2G scam case after the special court rejected her bail application, the case against her enters the next crucial phase of commencing the process of framing charges while her first priority is to make another attempt for bail.
As special judge sought her production on Saturday to proceed further with the case but for Kanimozhi the next immediate move is to gain her freedom and her lawyers said that they are preparing to move the Delhi High Court as soon as possible, may be on Saturday.
But her fate depends much on the Delhi High Court’s pending verdict on bail petitions of five executives of different telecom companies presently lodged in judicial custody after their bail applications were rejected by special judge O.P. Saini in the same manner as her.
The legal experts say that till the HC announces its judgement on the bail plea of the five company executives, who were arrested in the identical circumstances as Kanimozhi is on being summoned to the court, she has very little options left but to cool her heels in the jail and wait for the HC verdict.
The five company officials – Etisalat DB’s promoter Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom Director Vinod Goenka, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara – were also sent to jail after their bail plea was rejected on being summoned to the court.
The five executives were not arrested by the CBI during probe as happened in her case and the HC had reserved its order on their bail petitions on May 9.
“It is a settled principle of criminal law that a set of accused placed identically in a case, will be treated on par for all purposes, including granting bail,” noted criminal lawyer Ashok Arora.