2G scam verdict: Kanimozhi thanks people who stood by her

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Kanimozhi, who was one of the accused in the 2G spectrum allocation cases acquitted of all charges in a verdict by a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, has thanked people who stood by her.

"I would love to thank everyone who stood by me," Kanimozhi told the media.

The verdict was announced on Thursday morning, nearly seven years after the first arrest was made by the CBI in 2011.

Another DMK leader, Durai Murugan, said the conspiracies were hatched against them.

"The victory begins now. This case was put on us with political motives. Conspiracies were hatched against us but all have been blown away now," Durai Murugan said.

Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram also showed coherence with the verdict and said the allegations were never true.

"The allegations of a major scam involving the highest level of governance were never true. They were not correct and that has been established today," Chidambaram said.

As soon as the verdict was announced, the DMK supporters burst into celebrations.

The alleged scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the public exchequer.

The scam was among the major corruption scandals that came to light during the second term of the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh.