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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the office of Kalaignar TV here for hours until dawn on Friday as part of its investigation in the 2G spectrum scam.
The Tamil channel is housed in Anna Arivalayam, headquarters of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) at Teynampet in Chennai.
Armed with a search warrant issued by a Delhi court, a special team of the CBI's Anti Corruption Branch commenced the raid shortly before Thursday midnight.
During the seven-hour search in the channel's office, the CBI officials looked for documents pertaining to investments made by the promoters. The Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi's wife Ms Dayalu Ammal and his daughter Ms Kanimozhi, a DMK Rajya Sabha MP, are major shareholders in Kalaignar TV, sources in the agency said.
Investigators looked for documents pertaining to the transfer of funds to the tune of Rs 214 crore from Cineyug Films of Mumbai to Kalaignar TV a couple of years ago. Though the channel authorities denied any links with the 2G scam, the team made enquiries with the Managing Director, Mr Sharad Kumar, for about two hours, the sources said.
“The allegation is that Swan Telecom promoted by Mr Shahid Usman Balwa, one of the accused arrested by the CBI in the case, facilitated transfer of funds to Kalaignar TV…since the channel had clarified that the money was taken as loan and later repaid with interest, we tried to find documents pertaining to that transaction,” a CBI official said.
Parrying questions on whether the team found any incriminating documents during the night-long search, the official said the focus was on the flow of funds to Kalaignar TV.
“We have examined the papers relating to the formation of the channel and details of the investments made by different people since its inception,” he added.
The channel has said Cineyug had paid an advance for purchase of shares in Kalaignar TV, but the deal fell through because of differences over valuation of the shares. Thereafter, the amount was treated as a loan and repaid with interest.
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