2g Scam: AG denies grilling by CBI

New Delhi, Mar 16: Attorney General G E Vahanvati today denied in the Supreme Court that he was questioned by the CBI about his purported legal opinion to the Department of Telecom on the issue of grant of 2G spectrum.

However, later he told reporters that the agency had approached him for some clarification.

Mentioning a news report about CBI questioning him, before a bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, the AG termed it as "baseless".

"I do not know what wrong did I commit in my last life that media is after me and such reports are being published that CBI grilled me," Vahanvati said during the hearing of a petition by Centre for Public Interest Litigation, on whose plea a CBI probe had been ordered by the apex court into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The news report had claimed Vahanvati was questioned about the legal opinion that he had given to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) earlier during his stint as Solicitor General of India on the issue of grant of the 2G spectrum allocation.

Early this month too, Vahanvati, during the hearing of the issue related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam by the Supreme Court had denied that he had given any legal opinion to the DoT on the matter.

Later, he told reporters that CBI approached him only for some clarification and he was not questioned as reported.

He said that DoT had earlier sent him a press release and had sought his opinion on it. He had sent back the release to the DoT after making some notings on it, the AG said.

But the notings on the release had been tinkered with and the CBI wanted to know about it from me, he said.

PTI