Composed Kanimozhi appears in court after night in Tihar
New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) A day after she was sent to Tihar Jail allegedly for involvement in the 2G scam, DMK MP Kanimozhi looked composed but paler as she appeared before the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Saturday.
Clad in a yellow salwar suit, the 43-year-old daughter of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi was brought to the Patiala House court around 10 a.m. in a police van with other accused.
As soon as Kanimozhi stepped into the courtroom her mother Rajathi Ammal broke down. However, the Rajya Sabha MP controlled her emotions and consoled her mother by holding her hands.
Throughout the scrutiny of documents, she was seen talking to her husband G. Aravinthan, her eight-year-old son, who sat on her lap, and other family members.
The otherwise smiling DMK leader was sombre and the only time she smiled was when her son hugged her.
When IANS asked about her night in the Tihar Jail, Kanimozhi said: "No comments."
After being sent to jail Friday, Kanimozhi spent the night in a 10 ft by 15 ft cell in Ward 8, the women's ward of jail number six at Tihar, officials said Saturday.
According to jail sources, a blanket was given to her to be used as cushion for the night and Kanimozhi went to sleep around 11 p.m.
"She slept around 11 in the night and got up around 5-5.30 a.m., took a bath and had her breakfast -- bread slices with butter and tea -- from the jail canteen. She read some Tamil newspapers before starting for the court," a Tihar jail official told IANS.
Meanwhile, the court reserved for May 23 its order on the anticipatory bail plea of Cineyug Films founder Karim Morani, who has been named a co-conspirator in the 2G scam.
Morani's lawyer Sidhartha Luthra also submitted a medical report from J.J. Hospital in Mumbai, as was demanded by the court May 10 when he was exempted from personal appearance due to ill health.
"He needs eight small meals in a day, and walk for two hours to maintain a stress-free life. His heart's functioning is only 45 percent and he is also on heavy medication. Therefore, the court should allow his bail plea," Luthra said.
However, the CBI said that Morani cannot be treated as an innocent.
Meanwhile, two judges of Patiala House court Saturday inspected the special CBI court, which is handling cases related to 2G scam, to know the conditions in the courtroom.
During the court hours, Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh and Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain asked the court staff about the problems in the courtroom during the day-to-day proceedings of the 2G case.
DB Realty owner Shahid Balwa told them that the number of air conditioners are not enough for this courtroom and there is lot of suffocation.
At this, Singh asked the caretaker, who accompanied him to the court premises, to make proper arrangements for the accused, their family members, litigants and media persons.
The first charge sheet had named, besides former communications minister A.Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Raja's aide R.K. Chandolia, Swan Telecom's Vinod Goenka, Unitech's Sanjay Chandra.
The supplementary charge sheet had listed Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar, Cineyug Films' Karim Morani as well as Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Aggarwal of Kusegaon Realty. As of Friday, 13 of them are in judicial custody.