2G case: Court to decide on framing of charges against 17

New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) A Delhi court is likely to
pronounce its order Thursday on framing of charges against 17
accused in the 2G scam including former Indian telecom
minister A Raja and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) MP
Kanimozhi.
Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge O P
Saini, who heard arguments on behalf of the accused and the
CBI for over a month on day-to-day basis, had reserved the
order on August 29.
Winding up arguments, special CBI Prosecutor U U Lalit
had said that there was "sufficient prima facie" evidence
against all the accused to proceed with the trial as everyone
of them was part of the conspiracy and the intent to commit
offence "may be inferred from their knowledge".
On the other hand, all the accused including Raja opposed
the framing of charges and the plea of CBI that they caused a
loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the state exchequer in the grant of
spectrum licenses.
The case cannot withstand the legal scrutiny as the Prime
Minister and present Indian Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal were
on records that the state did not incur any loss, the counsel
for Raja and others had submitted.
Raja also said that he may seek to examine the prime
minister as a witness to prove that there was no loss.
Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, other accused include former
telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, Raja's former personal
secretary R K Chandolia, DMK-run Kalaignar TV's MD Sharad
Kumar, Bollywood (Indian film industry) filmmaker Karim Morani
and Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and
Surendra Pipara.
The accused also included Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay
Chandra, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod
Goenka and directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif
Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal.
Three companies -- Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and
Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd -- have also been made
accused in the case.
Meanwhile, CBI may file its second supplementary charge
sheet in the case.
During the arguments, special prosecutor Lalit opposed
the plea of Raja and Kanimozhi that they are MPs and their
prosecution was illegal due to lack of proper sanction from
the Speaker of Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament)
and Chairperson of Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian
parliament) respectively.
The office Raja was holding as an MP has not come into
the picture at all and it was not the case that Raja and
Kanimozhi misused their offices as MPs, Lalit had said.
The prosecutor had sought framing of charges against all
the accused including three telecom firms under various
provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
CBI said Swan Telecom and Unitech, alleged beneficiaries,
got the licences despite being ineligible and later off-loaded
their shares and earned huge profit of around Rs 7,300 crore.
Discussing roles of Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and three
Reliance ADAG officials, CBI said they set up an ineligible
company (Swan Telecom) as a front firm to circumvent the then
dual technology policy of the Department of Telecom which
barred an existing CDMA player from venturing into GSM sector.
However, the policy was later changed.
The control of Swan Telecom was later transferred to DB
Group promoted by co-accused Shahid Usman Balwa, CBI said.
The RTL and Reliance ADAG officials, however, opposed the
plea saying there was no evidence as to what they gained.
Neither RTL nor its three employees, who are also accused
in the case, committed any act which could be linked to with
the case, the counsel for the firm said.