2G case: Court cancels NBW against Kanimozhi for non-appearance

New Delhi, Nov 10: A special court on Monday issued non-bailable warrant against DMK MP Kanimozhi, facing trial in 2G spectrum case, for non-appearance only to cancel it in less than an hour after her counsel appeared before it and apologised.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini had issued the NBW against her for December 19, noting that neither she nor her counsel had appeared before the court.

"It is 11.30 AM, neither any advocate for Kanimozhi is present nor any application for her exemption from personal appearance has been filed," the judge said.

The matter was fixed for commencement of final arguments in the case and Kanimozhi failed to appear before it. However, the court later cancelled the NBW while allowing the application of Kanimozhi's counsel who appeared before it at 12.25 PM.

"NBW is hereby cancelled. He (counsel for Kanimozhi) is advised to be careful in the future."

The court fixed December 19 for hearing final arguments as the counsel for the CBI and the accused sought time to advance the arguments.

Besides A Raja and his erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, who were present in the court, other accused including former Telecom Secretary Sidharth Behura, Swan telecom promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka moved exemption plea through their lawyers which was allowed by the judge.

Others facing trial in the case include Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra, three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair .

Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV Director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case.

Besides these 14 accused persons, three telecom firms -- Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd -- are facing trial in the case.

The court had on October 22, 2011 framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.

The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.

PTI