Malaysia-based Sarvanan and chartered accountant Ratnam were questioned for nearly six hours by the officials about the deal related to a plot of land in Chennai.
Tightening the noose around Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Kanimozhi in the second-generation (2G) mobile telephony spectrum scam, the CBI today questioned a Malaysia-based NRI and a chartered accountant -- considered close to former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi's family, just days ahead of an expected decision on her bail application.
Malaysia-based Sarvanan and chartered accountant Ratnam were questioned for nearly six hours by the officials about the deal related to a plot of land in Chennai which was estimated to be worth Rs200 crore but was sold at Rs25 crore to a business man from Malaysia, agency sources said.
They claimed Sarvanan was a key player in the deal of the 53,000 square feet plot located on the Anna Malai road in Chennai which was taken on lease by a big industrial house for nearly 30 years till 2005. The industrial house has filed a suit in the Madras high court for renewing the lease.
Sarvanan allegedly managed to get the power of attorney for the plot from the owners and sold it to a private company at Rs25 crore in 2009, days before the general elections.
The agency is probing whether the land deal at one-eighth the estimated market price through Sarvanan, who has interests in real-estate business, was a way to camouflage the alleged bribe money from spectrum allocation to telecom firms, the sources said.
The bail applications of DMK MP and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar, named as accused in the CBI charge sheet, are pending before a special CBI court in Delhi which is likely to pronounce its decision on May 20.
The court has to decide the fate of Kanimozhi who has been accused of taking Rs200 crore bribe for Kalaignar TV from Shahid Usman Balwa's firm DB Realty.
The CBI has accused her of conspiring with former Union telecom minister A Raja. She has also been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act for taking bribe through Kalaignar TV--a channel run by the DMK -- in which the bribe of the 2G scam was routed.
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