A Raja's PS accuses CBI of pressurising witnesses to depose

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) R K Chandolia, former private
secretary of A Raja, Saturday alleged before a Delhi court
that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) pressurised its
witnesses to depose against him in the 2G spectrum case after
his arrest.
"My arrest on February 2, this year was illegal
because at that point of time, no prosecution witnesses had
deposed against me and CBI, in a bid to frame me, pressurised
them to name me as accused," Chandolia's counsel Vijay Agarwal
told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.
Agarwal, who concluded his two-day-long arguments on
framing of charges, claimed innocence saying all the persons,
who have either been left out or being made witnesses, should
have been before the court as accused.
Department of Telecom (DoT) official, R P Agarwal, who
recorded his statements on various dates with CBI, did not
name Chandolia and suddenly, he named the private secretary in
his testimony, recorded after the arrest and this reflected
the motive of the agency to implicate him, the counsel said.
"In January and February, the statements (of Agarwal)
were recorded and no role was attributed to Chandolia. When
his statement was recorded in March, the name of Chandolia
surfaced....I am the smallest pie and why they arrested in
February when all the incriminating statements were recorded
in March."
"CBI first prepared the draft charge sheet and aligned
it later after manipulating the statements of witnesses to
suit its case," Agarwal said.
Earlier, Chandolia followed the line of defence of the
former Telecom Minister and continued with the blame game by
seeking to implicate Tata and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia
and others as accused on the ground that it was they who had
felicitated the deal to bring DMK-run Kalaignar TV on Tata Sky
bouquet.

The defence counsel said the allegation of Chandolia
favouring Shahid Usman Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom was
unfounded as the company was incapable of getting license.
"Because of the row, involving Idea-Spice merger (two
telecom companies), Idea Cellular could not have claimed the
license for Delhi circle and hence, the allegation is without
any basis," Agarwal said.
He attempted to trash the CBI's plea that Chandolia
entered into a conspiracy with Raja and others to accord
license to ineligible firm Swan Telecom for lucrative Delhi
circle.
"What is so magical about the Delhi circle? The whole
charge sheet says that Chandolia favoured Swan Telecom for
Delhi circle but the fact is Delhi was placed fifth in terms
of revenue generation. The whole case is based on falsehood,"
he said.
CBI, in its charge sheet, pegged the loss to the
exchequer to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore and later, enhances
it by Rs 984 crore without any credible document, he said.
The main allegation against Chandolia was that he
leaked the information, regarding pre-requisites for getting
the letter of intents (LoIs) ahead of eligible telecom majors,
is not even worth considering, he said.
"Not only Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (alleged
beneficiaries) were ready with the demand drafts of Rs 1659
crore but even unsuccessful firms such as Tata Teleservices,
Idea and Loop Telecom were also ready with drafts then, please
tell me, what secret I leaked?," Agarwal said.