The 87-year-old patriarch, accompanied by his wife and Kanimozhi's mother, Rajathi Ammal, met Kanimozhi for 20 minutes in a 15x10 room in the transit lounge of jail number 6 on Tuesday evening. He later met former Kalaignar TV MD and CEO Sharad Kumar and ousted telecom minister A Raja.
Jail sources said Karunanidhi entered the room with tears in his eyes. "The moment Kanimozhi came into the room, she clasped his hand. She then embraced her mother and spoke animatedly in Tamil. Rajathi Ammal kept wiping tears with her sari while the two stood next to Karunanidhi," a source said.
While tea was served to Karunanidhi by the jail staff, he did not touch it. The visiting couple had brought two packets of murukku, a popular snack, which was consumed in the room itself.
"Karunanidhi and Ammal asked their daughter how she was doing. Kanimozhi in turn inquired about her son. The former CM assured her of the best legal help in fighting her case. They discussed three-four well-known lawyers who could be hired and strategized how they should move ahead. Karunanidhi kept assuring both his wife and daughter that all would be well," the source said.
DG (prisons) Neeraj Kumar said while six people had sought to meet Kanimozhi, Raja and Sharad Kumar between 4pm and 6pm, only two were granted permission as per jail rules.
"We cannot let so many people to meet at the same time. As a special courtesy to Karunanidhi, we allowed them to meet all the three inmates in the same room as it is difficult for him to move about," Kumar said.
Those whose request was turned down were
DMK leaders M K Alagiri, Duraimurugan, K Ponmudi, E V Velu and K Shanmuganathan. After the DMK's first couple had spoken to Kanimozhi for 20 minutes, Sharad Kumar was also called into the room. Ten minutes later, A Raja too was brought in.
No comments:
Post a Comment