Kanimozhi Karunanidhi is a member of Upper House of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and represents the state of Tamil Nadu. She is the daughter of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi and his third wife Rajathi Ammal. She is a poetess, a journalist and a politician by profession. She was in news in recent days for all wrong reasons. She was booked in Tihar Jail for her alleged involvement in 2g Spectrum allotment scam. She was denied bail a number of times by courts and she had to spend time in the jail only. But on 28th November, 2011 she was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in 2G case.

Kanimozhi is active in the field of literature and arts and is considered as the ‘literary heir’ of her father. She belongs to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which was founded by her father. She works as the chief of the DMK’s wing for Art, Literature and Rationalism.

She was born in 1968 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Kanimozhi was a student of Presentation Convent, Church Park in Chennai. She completed her Master’s course in Economics in Ethiraj College for Women from the Madras University. She had been married twice. First time she got married with Athiban Bose, a business man from Sivakasi in 1989 when she was doing her Masters course. But the marriage couldn’t last long and it ended in divorce. Later, she got married to G.Aravindaan, a Singapore based Tamil writer, in the year 1997. She has cordial relations with her half brothers, M.K.Azhagiri (Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers) and M.K.Stalin (Former Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu).

Before joining politics Kanimozhi was actively involved and pursued her career as a journalist. She served as a sub editor for ‘The Hindu’. She was editor in charge of ‘Kungumam’, a Tamil weekly magazine and a features editor for Singapore based Tamil Newspaper called ‘Tamil Murasu’. She also works as a columnist in ‘The Week’. She had published various books. She had also written songs for Tamil movies. She had also laid her voice in a Tamil Album. She also looks after ‘Kaliangar 85’, job fair plan run by DMK party in remote villages and towns of the state of Tamil Nadu. The party defines it an opportunity for creating employment for the youth of the state.

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In November 2010, ‘Outlook’ published transcripts of six conversations between lobbyist Niira Radia and Kanimozhi from May 2009. India Today claims that these conversations revealed the alleged involvement of Kanimozhi in 2G wireless spectrum allocation scam. She filtered the information flowing to her father and as a result benefitted A. Raja the then Minister of Communications and Information and Technology.

On 11th March, 2011 Kanimozhi was questioned by CBI about the apparent flow of Rs.200 crore from Shahid Balwa’s DB reality firm to Kaliangar TV. CBI has included Kanimozhi’s name in second charge sheet of the 2G scam in relation to this alleged money transactions. On 20th May, 2011 CBI court in New Delhi ordered the arrest of Kanomozhi after which she was taken to Tihar jail.

The Court rejected her repeated bail pleas citing the reason that she belonged to upper echelons of the society and the enormity of committed crime. Though, on 28th November, 2011 she was granted the bail by Delhi High Court while her colleagues are still behind the bars.