Cover-up to protect DMK’s first family: Bhushan

Meanwhile, Bhushan admitted that AAP cannot independently verify the authenticity of the tapes but prima facie they appeared to be genuine. ‘They seem to have been recorded by someone on a Nokia mobile phone,’ he said. Bhushan claimed that the tapes contained purported conversation between a top police official of the state police and a senior official in Karunanidhi’s office as well as between the said police officer and Kanimozhi. The alleged conversations took place between November 2010 and February 2011, when Karunanidhi was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

Bhushan further said that leaked audio tapes prove Kanimozhi’s complicity in accepting a Rs 200-crore kickback from a telecom firm which was among those which received an out-of-turn mobile network licence by her party’s A Raja when he was telecom minister in 2008. Raja and Kanimozhi have both spent time in jail on criminal charges in connection with the telecom swindle, worth Rs 1.76 lakh crore according to the CAG. He further said that the CBI, which is investigating the scam, has stated that Swan Telecom routed huge amount in bribe to Raja through a television channel in Chennai which was partly owned by Kanimozhi and her stepmother. 

The top executive of the channel, Sharath Kumar, has also done time in prison. Over the weekend, phone conversations posted online allegedly reveal him admitting that he destroyed evidence and altered company documents to protect Kanimozhi. ‘We’ll upload tapes which will show that Sharad Reddy (MD of Kalaignar TV) doctored the loan documents,’ Bhushan said.

AAP demanded an independent probe into the alleged role played by Karunanidhi and the police officer in ‘covering up’ the scam. Bhushan also alleged that the purported conversations also contain a reference to multiple transactions of properties by the Tata Group through a subsidiary to an aide of Kanimozhi. The AAP leader said the tapes warranted a probe into the property deal and various ‘favours’ granted by then DMK government to the Tata Group.

‘It is all lies, all lies, all lies,’ Karunanidhi told reporters outside his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai.