Bail pleas of Kanimozhi, five others to be heard on Friday

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed the early hearing of the bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozhi and five other accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Justice V.K. Shali said that the matter would be heard on Friday morning.

Directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that is probing the case and the defence counsel, Justice Shali asked them to submit a statement on the charges against all the accused and the evidence seized against them.

Kanimozhi and the five other accused moved the court Wednesday for early hearing of their bail applications after the Supreme Court granted bail to five corporate executives co-accused in the case -- Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless, Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom and Reliance Group's Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair. With the five getting bail, nine people are now behind bars.

Besides Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, Cineyug Films' Karim Morani, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Agarwal, along with former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura have moved bail applications originally slated for a Dec 1 hearing.

Citing the Supreme Court order, Kanimozhi stated in her plea that keeping her in custody for some more days would be a violation of her fundamental rights and that she should be granted bail as even the CBI was not opposing her plea.

Earlier this month, the high court had issued notice to the CBI seeking its response on bail applications of the six by December 1.