Special bench of SC to hear plea of Dayalu Ammal

A special bench of the Supreme Court hearing 2G cases will take up the plea of Dayalu Ammal, wife of Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi, for exemption from personal appearance as a prosecution witness in the 2G case.

A bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan before whom the matter was listed refused to hear the case, saying the matter be heard by the special bench, comprising Justice G S Singhvi and himself, which is hearing all the 2G cases.

The petition has been filed by Ammal's daughter Selvi, who has pleaded that a medical board be constituted to find out whether her mother is physically and mentally fit to come to Delhi from Chennai to depose before the special Central Bureau of Investigation court.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner, contended that Ammal had been diagnosed with cognitive and behavioural abnormalities in June last year and that she is progressively and gradually losing recognition of even her near and dear ones and is unable to move out of the house on her own.

The bench, after hearing his submissions, said the matter be heard by the special bench which is sitting on Wednesday. In the petition, it has been submitted that due to her physical and mental condition, Ammal is prone to "abrasive behaviour, clumsy habit with sudden hitting or punching people, inappropriate talk and action and inability to take care of day-to-day activities".

The petition has been filed against the special CBI court's order refusing to exempt her from appearing as a witness in the case.

The plea for exempting 82-year-old Ammal from appearing as a prosecution witness had earlier been moved in the Delhi high court which on July 4 asked her to move the apex court for relief, as the 2G case is being monitored by it.

The special CBI court had on May 31 dismissed Ammal's exemption plea, saying she 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.

Ammal had approached the special court seeking exemption from personal appearance as a witness and to dispense with her presence in the case citing her ailments.

The trial court's order assumed significance as Karunanidhi's daughter and DMK member of Parliament 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.

The CBI had, in its charge sheet, 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.

Ammal was not named as an accused in the case by the CBI which had said due to her advanced age and "non-understanding" of any language other than Tamil, she was only fulfilling the legal requirements of Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd in which she is one of the Directors.

The CBI had said Ammal had delegated her power to Sharad Kumar to run the company's affairs.