CBI court says prosecution failed to prove any charge; agency to file appeal in HC

NEW DELHI (TIP): Former telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and others were today acquitted in the politically sensitive 2G spectrum allocation cases by a special court which held that the prosecution miserably failed to prove the scam involving corruption and money laundering.

The court, which held there was no scam in the 2G spectrum allocation in 2007-08 when Raja was the telecom minister in the erstwhile UPA regime headed by Manmohan Singh, also set free all accused in two offshoot cases lodged by the ED and the CBI.

It said some people created a scam by “artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels”.

In the main CBI case, besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the 15 other accused allowed to walk free include former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.

Bollywood film producer Karim Morani, Kalaignar TV’s director Sharad Kumar, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd were also acquitted. The companies which were not found guilty are Shahid Balwa’s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Chandra’s Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd and Reliance Telecom Ltd of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

Raja and Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK supremo M Karunanidhi, along with 17 others were also let off in another case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate under the money laundering law arising out of the 2G scam. Raja remained in jail for over 15 months while Kanimozhi was in prison for six months before they were granted bail.

Other accused persons were also in jail for varying term.

The court also acquitted Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate CBI case arising out of the 2G scam probe. Besides Ruias, Loop Telecom Promoters I P Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan and Vikash Saraf, one of the Essar Group Directors, Loop Telecom Ltd, Loop Mobile (India) Ltd and Essar Teleholdings Ltd were also acquitted.

While giving clean chit to all the accused in the three case connected with the 2G spectrum allocation, Special Judge O P Saini was critical of the CBI and the apex court-appointed special public prosecutor Anand Grover, saying the quality of prosecution had “totally deteriorated” and by the end it became “directionless”.

It observed that the CBI had started its case with “great enthusiasm and ardour” but at the final stage of the trial, SPP Grover and the regular CBI prosecutor moved in “two different directions without any coordination”.

Further, the judge was not convinced with the prosecution theory that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was misled by Raja or that the facts were misrepresented to him, saying such arguments were taken “just to prejudice the mind of the court by invoking the high name and authority of the prime minister of the country.

In embarrassment to the CBI, the court said the genesis of the instant case lies not so much in the actions of Raja but in the action or inaction of others and “there is no material on record to show that the telecom minister was ‘mother lode of conspiracy’ in the case”.

“There is also no evidence of his no holds barred immersion in any wrong doing, conspiracy or corruption,” it said about the alleged scam in which high profile witnesses like the then Attorney General G E Vahanvati, Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, then TRAI Chairman Nripendra Mishra, then DoT secretary D S Mathur, former RBI governor D Subba Rao and former Law Secretary T K Vishwanathan deposed.

In the main CBI case involving Raja, Kanimozhi and others, the court held that the depositions of senior officers of Department of Telecom (DoT) and key prosecution witnesses were contrary to the record and they were just passing the buck without suggesting anything.

However, it said Raja’s statements matched with the official record and “appeared to be cogent, truthful and as such acceptable”.

Source: PTI