Kanimozhi, the DMK's Rajya Sabha MP, was on Sunday admitted to a hospital in Chennai after she suddenly fell ill.

She was reportedly found unconscious at her residence and taken to a private hospital in Alwarpet. Though the incident happened around 10.30 am, neither the hospital nor Kanimozhi's family and any DMK leader confirmed her hospitalisation. Till 4.30 pm, hospital officials said Kanimozhi was not in their care.

But around 6 pm, Kanimozhi's father and DMK chief Karunanidhi visited the hospital.

It was two hours after Karunanidhi left the hospital that a press release was issued. It said that Kanimozhi was admitted to the hospital for "tiredness and exhaustion" and would be discharged in a couple of days. Many senior DMK leaders, including M.K. Stalin (Kanimozhi's half brother), R. Durai Murugan, T.K.S. Elangovan and S. Jagathratchagan visited the hospital and enquired about the MP's health. Mediapersons were not allowed to enter the hospital compound and were kept outside.

"She was working hard for the past three days, preparing for a debate in the Rajya Sabha on reservation. She was also working on her speech for the party's conference in Tiruchi from Feb 15-16. She was exhausted due to the hard work. She was working late on Saturday and the work stretched till the early hours of Sunday. She was exhausted. That's all. There is nothing to worry about as she will be all right soon," a source told India Today Online.



But there are few takers for this explanation.

Since Saturday morning, media and political circles are agog with strong rumours about the impending release of over six audio tapes. These tapes are in connection with purported conversations between Kanimozhi and former additional director general of police Jaffer Sait and between Jaffer Sait and Sharad Kumar Reddy, a former director of Karunanidhi-owned Kalaignar TV.

Kanimozhi and Reddy were arrested by the CBI in connection with the 2G spectrum scam and later released on bail after spending over six months in Tihar Jail in Delhi. In fact, the taped conversation purportedly between Sait and Reddy was uploaded in a Tamil website, Savukku.net, on Saturday. The tape ran for over six minutes.

In the taped conversation which is in English, Reddy is heard saying that he signed over 100 back dated documents to escape the clutches of the CBI. The authenticity of the tape is not confirmed. But some senior police officers confirm that the voice is of Sait's. There has been no reaction from either Sait or Reddy on this development and both are incommunicado.

A.Shankar, who is suspected by the police to be the owner of the Tamil website which uploaded the taped conversation, is a whistleblower from Tamil Nadu.



A day before he was uploading the purported conversation between Sait and Reddy, a judge of the Madras High Court ordered his arrest for carrying defamatory articles about judges in Savukku.net.

Accordingly, Chennai police arrested the website designer but Shankar went underground. Sources close to Shankar said he is headed to New Delhi. "Shankar has decided to approach the Supreme Court with his tapes. Since the matter is connected with the 2G case which is monitored by the Supreme Court, the chances are bright for the apex court to look into the matter. We lost all touch with him since Saturday night. He has gone underground," a person close to Shankar told India Today Online.

Legal experts are of the view that in a volatile case such as the 2G case, the Supreme Court may take a serious view on the tapes. "The 2G trial is being monitored by the Supreme Court and there is a continuous mandamus. So the court may direct the trial court or the trial court may itself cancel the bail of Kanimozhi and Reddy," J. Sundaresan, a leading lawyer of Madras High Court, told India Today Online.

*A previous version of this article had erroneously mentioned A. Shankar as the owner of the website savukku.net.

