Kani was case of mistaken identity

The CBI’s legal faux pas is responsible for putting DMK Chief M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi (49) behind bars in the 2G case for six months. It is understood that the investigating agency had possibly committed a monumental blunder by wrongly affixing Kani-mozhi’s name in its 2G charge-sheet.

The chargesheet was based on Kalaignar TV's general manager (finance) G Rajendran's statement during interrogation that among those present in the board meeting in February 2009 was "Mrs Karunanidhi" who was instrumental in raising a loan of Rs 200 crore from 2G beneficiary Swan Telecom. Kalaignar TV is the propaganda arm of the DMK.

The CBI expanded this "Mrs Karunanidhi" by adding the DMK MP's name as "Mrs Kanimozhi Karunanidhi." Only when Rajendran was produced before the court that he clarified it was M K Dayalu or Dayalu Amma, first wife of the DMK chief who was present in the board meeting, and not Kanimozhi. Dayalu was a majority shareholder with 60% stakes.

Kanimozhi is married to G Aravindan and has a son but she does not use the surname of her father, Karunanidhi, nor that of her husband. Therefore, it is a wonder why the CBI mistook her as ‘Mrs Karunanidhi’.

The court summoned minutes of the board meeting to find out who all were present. It did not find the name of Kanimozhi and that is how she came out of custody.

She says it was conspiracy to turn her into an accused for being a director in the company for only 20 days, despite the fact that she neither attended any board meeting nor signed a single document.

Her lawyers did file a "quash petition" in the Supreme Court after she came out of jail, but the court finally heard it in December 2015 and ordered that the case be first heard by the Special Court. Interestingly, there was no such error in the Enforcement Directorate's chargesheet filed in 2013 as it named M K Dayalu as an accused.