2G scam: Court allows IT dept to quiz Raja and five others

New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) A Delhi court on Thursday
allowed the Indian Income Tax department to interrogate six
accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja, arrested
for their alleged involvement in the 2G scam, in judicial
custody itself.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini allowed the application
moved by the Income Tax department seeking permission to quiz
Raja, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod
Goenka and three Reliance ADAG top officials-- Gautam Doshi,
Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.
Income Tax (IT) department moved three separate
applications seeking interrogation of Raja in connection with
his family income, senior Standing Counsel for the IT
department Sanjeev Rajpal said.
Balwa will be quizzed by the Income Tax team from
Mumbai regarding his connection with Etisalat DB.
Meanwhile, the third application was moved on behalf
of the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai to quiz
Balwa, Goenka and three ADAG officials.
"Our applications have been allowed by the court and
these six persons will be interrogated from July 27 to July
29," Rajpal said.
The CBI, meanwhile, started the arguments on framing
of charges against various accused in the 2G scam.
The court had on July 18 also allowed the CBI to
interrogate afresh Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha
Behura and Gautam Doshi in the lock up of Patiala House court
complex for one hour each.
The court had allowed the agency's application that in
the interest of the case, it required to interrogate key
accused afresh for the ongoing probe.
The CBI, in its first charge sheet on April 2, had
accused Raja, and eight other persons including Balwa, Goenka,
Doshi, Nair and Pipara as well as three companies of causing a
loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer.
Charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and
corruption have been levelled against the six, who are
currently lodged in Tihar Jail along with other eight accused
in the case including DMK MP Kanimozhi.