Tatas play corporate honcho's 2G attack at back foot

New Delhi, May 19: When the world is fastening its belt to indulge in more advanced technologies with 3G and 4G, India seems to be bound with 2G. Starting from former telecom minister to corporate honchos - all confined the nation in a scam-strangled second generation telecom spectrum.

It seems that 2G spectrum scam has taken a new angle when a fresh fight has been cited between the main accused of the case. Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa hurled an attack on Ratan Tata and his company by claiming that the investigation agency has gone soft on Tata telecom company.

Balwa's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal on Wednesday, May 18 had argued in the special CBI court that the CBI is biased towards Tata and has therefore targeted telecom companies selectively.

However, a spokesperson for Tata group diminished all charges casted by Balwa and his lawyers. The Tata company spokesperson said, "We are not aware of the contents of the letters produced in the court but no donation was made to a hospital in former Telecom Minister A Raja's constituency."

Meanwhile, the spokesperson also mentioned, "It is a fact that Mr Ratan Tata was approached in 2008-2009 about a grant of Rs 20 crore from Tata Trusts for the Perambalur Medical College Hospital."

Earlier an NGO brought similar kind of attack alleging "big fish" like Reliance Telecom Chairman Anil Ambani, Essar's CEO Prashant Ruia and Tatas, who are real beneficiaries, have been left out of CBI chargesheets.

The NGO's lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, who is now in the panel to draft "Lokpal Bill" to fight corruption, raised question about Tata Teleservice's role in 2G scam.

Bhushan, similarly to Balwa, had raised voice against Tatas by stating that the telecom company (Tata Teleservices) was granted of Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) for its dual technology as Tatas had funded the NGO run by Kanimozhi but CBI was not moving against them.

OneIndia News