Denial of bail to Kani not end of road: Congress

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Observing that the rejection of DMK MP Kanimozhi's bail plea is not the end of the road, the Congress on Thursday said the court order should not be extrapolated to play up or play down the political relationship between two political parties.

"It is not the end of road as other appellate fora are available. Invariably, it has been seen while one court may take a particular view, another court may take another view, but ultimately the bottom line remains that it is for the court to take a considerate view of the matter and come at an appropriate conclusion," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari.

Refusing to comment on the court's ruling, Tiwari said: "It has nothing to do with the DMK and the Congress party per se. Here is a matter investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the pursuance of the Supreme Court, there is a charge sheet which has been filed and the matter is being considered by the trial court."

"I don't think the merits of a particular decision should really be extrapolated to play up or play down upon the political relationship between two political parties."

The bail pleas of Kanimozhi and seven other accused in the 2G spectrum allotment scam were Thursday dismissed by a CBI special court here. They will continue to be lodged in the Tihar Jail.

The CBI did not oppose the bail pleas of Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, directors of Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Agarwal, and Bollywood producer Karim Morani on the ground that they faced specific charges, apart from the "umbrella section" of 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of teh Indian Penal Code (IPC), which entails a five-year sentence as maximum punishment.

The agency has also slapped charges of criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the IPC which carries the life term as maximum punishment, against Kanimozhi and four others.

The agency, however, had opposed the bail pleas of Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, former communications minister A. Raja's then private secretary R.K. Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura.