A special Supreme Court bench on Monday rejected bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar in the 2G spectrum scam case. Apex Court in its order gave liberty to Kanimozhi to move to trial court afresh for bail after framing of charges in the case. Court in its order said that she could invoke section 437 of criminal procedure code which provides for grant of bail to women in cognizable offences. The case was heard by a bench headed by Justice GS Singvi, who has been monitoring the case since the beginning and had asked searching questions to the government on the role of several influential people in the multi-crore scam. Kanimozhi and Kumar have been accused by the CBI to be involved in the illegal transaction of Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV which was alleged to be a bribe given by a telecom operator which had benefited in the scam. The CBI filed had filed an affidavit opposing their bail pleas on the ground that if released, they could tamper with evidence and influence witnesses. Opposing the bail plea, the probe agency contended in its affidavit that Kanimozhi and Kumar were key conspirators and Rs 200 crore transferred to Kalaignar TV was part of the “bribe” amount and not a loan as claimed by the accused. Earlier two judges P Sathasivam and AK Patnaik before whom the matter was listed had recused themselves from the high-profile case.

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