2G scam: Raja to oppose charge framing against him from Monday

New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI) Former Telecom Minister A
Raja, arrested for his role in the 2G scam, will begin his
arguments on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal
conspiracy against him from Monday.
With the CBI completing its arguments on framing of
charges against Raja and 16 others, including 3 telecom firms,
the former minister will begin his arguments from July 25.
"Arguments on charge for prosecution heard and
concluded. Put up for arguments on charge for the accused
persons on July 25, 2011," Special CBI Judge O P Saini said.
While concluding his arguments, Special Public
Prosecutor U U Lalit told the court that going purely by the
note on revision of licence fee by Indian Revenue Service
officer Manju Madhavan or the Prime Minister's letter, a loss
of Rs 30,000 crore has been caused to the public exchequer.
Lalit said besides Raja, others involved in the scam
that caused huge loss to the exchequer, included former
Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, Raja's erstwhile
aide R K Chandolia and corporate honchos Shahid Balwa, Vinod
Goenka and Sanjay Chandra.
"The figure of Rs 30,000 crore would be across the
board. But on basis of material before the court relating to
Swan Telecom and Unitech Telecom, a loss of Rs 7,100 crore has
been caused," Lalit said.
Lalit pointed out that except the current spectrum
licence, Swan Telecom had no other licence and even Unitech
Wireless was ineligible for the spectrum.
While pressing on all the charges that the CBI has
levelled against various accused in the charge sheet, Lalit
argued that charges under sections 192 (for fabricating false
evidence) and 193 (the punishment for false evidence) under
Indian Penal Code too is also made out against them.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had begun its
arguments on framing of charges against the 17 accused in the
case from July 21.
14 accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi are presently
lodged in Tihar Jail. PTI AKI
RCJ