Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal will have to appear as a prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum allocation case, a Delhi court on Friday said.
The court dismissed two applications filed by 82-year-old Ammal seeking exemption from personal appearance as a witness and to dispense with her presence in the case citing her ailing health condition.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini said Ammal is an “important witness” as she was a director in Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd in which an alleged bribe amount of Rs 200 crore was received.
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The order assumes significance as Mr Karunanidhi’s daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, Managing Director of the TV channel, are facing trial in the case along with former Telecom Minister A Raja, DB Realty Ltd MD Vinod Goenka and others.
“Moreover, the witness (Dayalu Ammal) is an important witness as she was a director in a company (Kalaignar TV) with 60 per cent stake in which alleged bribe amount of Rs 200 crore was received.
“Without speaking much on this aspect, I may add that this fact makes her an important witness in the case and in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, she can neither be exempted from appearance as a witness in the court nor dropped from the array of witnesses nor can she be ordered to be examined on commission given medical condition as indicated by record,” the judge said and summoned her for July 8 to depose as a witness in the case.
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The CBI, in its charge sheet, has discussed the routing of over Rs 200 crore illegal gratification from M/S Dynamix Realty to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd through M/S Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd.
In its first charge sheet filed on April 2, 2011, the CBI had said the money had travelled through a “circuitous route” through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, a DB group company and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd, to Kalaignar TV in which Dayalu Ammal, Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar were having 60, 20 and 20 per cent shares respectively.