CBI court order on 2G charges postponed; Kani, Raja waiting

New Delhi, Sept 15: Kanimozhi and A Raja will have to wait more in Tihar jail as the CBI court on Sept 15 postponed its order on framing of charges in the 2G spectrum scam.

The order on the 17 accused was about to be pronounced on Thursday, Sept 15 by the CBI court. The accused include high profile individuals like Former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK Chief Karunanidhi's daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi and other industry heads.

The special CBI judge OP Saini have been hearing arguments on behalf of the accused for over a month and had reserved the order for the same on Aug 29. The special CBI Prosecutor UU Lalit stated that there was "sufficient prima facie" evidence against the accused and that the people concerned had knowledge on the scam and was very much part of the conspiracy. He added that the intent to commit the offence "may be inferred from their knowledge".

All the accused opposed the framing of the charges and the CBI's allegation that they caused losses amounting to Rs 30,984 crore to the country's exchequer during the granting of the spectrum licenses.

A Raja had earlier indicated that he might call the Prime Minister as a witness to prove that there was no loss as projected. The PM, Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidamabaram and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had unequivocally denied the loss to the state's exchequer on record, a point that was argued by Raja's counsel and added that in such a condition, the case cannot withstand legal scrutiny.

The other prominent individuals who are to be framed in the court include former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, DMK-run Kalaignar TV's MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani, Raja's former personal secretary R K Chandolia and Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.

The other accused include 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.

OneIndia News