2G case: Order on Kani's bail deferred

A Delhi court today cited "paucity of time" as the reason for deferring pronouncement of the order on the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi who faces possible arrest in the 2G scam.

"Order on the bail applications, filed by accused Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, not ready due to paucity of time. Put up the bail application for order on May 20," Special CBI Judge O P Saini, appointed by the apex court to deal with the 2G case only, said.

Kanimozhi, 43 and Sharad Kumar, MD of Kalaignar TV, the alleged recipient of Rs 200 crore bribe, had moved their bail applications on May 6.

A day after, the court reserved its order for today following detailed arguments advanced by noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani appearing for Kanimozhi.

The judge, however, today made it clear to the DMK MP and Sharad Kumar to attend court proceedings on each date of the hearing.

The court also directed all the accused to expedite the process of scrutiny of documents, which is going on since CBI filed the first chargesheet in the case on April 2.

Karim Morani, director of Cineyug Films who was made accused along with Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar by the agency in its second chargesheet, again sought exemption from personal appearance on health grounds. The plea was allowed.

The other eleven accused in the case are former Telecom Minister A Raja, his personal secretary R K Chandolia, former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara of Reliance ADAG.

The eleven accused are now in Tihar jail.

CBI is likely to file its third chargesheet in June.