Raja

Raja

2G spectrum scam: Court acquits both A Raja and Kanimozhi

NEW DELHI: In an extraordinary twist, a special CBI court on Thursday acquitted all accused, including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi , in the Rs 30,000 crore 2G spectrum allocation scam cases.Special CBI judge O P Saini pronounced the judgment, clearing 19 accused of all charges in the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering case which comes under the gamut of the 2G scam case."The Court said that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any of its charge. Thus all accused are acquitted," defence counsel Vijay Aggarwal said outside the courtroom soon after the shock verdict.Former CBI Director A P Singh, who led the arrests of A Raja and corporates, expressed bewilderment on the acquittal of all accused in the 2G scam case."I don’t know what happened in the trial but there were clear irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum which we (CBI) pointed out with detailed evidence," A P Singh told TOI.All key accused, were present for the verdict at the Patiala House courtroom, which has been the scene of high drama and stunning revelations since November 2011, when the trial in the main 2G suit began.The court directed all persons acquitted in the case to furnish a bail bond of Rs 5 lakhs each to ensure their presence in a higher appellate court should the verdict be challenged in the future.Others acquitted in the case are former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura,'s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also exonerated in the case.Besides them, three telecom firms -- Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd -- were also accused and now stand vindicated.A number of supporters of DMK leadersand Kanimozhi, who were anxiously waiting outside the jam-packed court room, broke into loud cheers as soon as the verdict was pronounced.There were three cases before special judge Saini — two that were registered by the CBI and one by the ED. CBI's first case is the main 2G suit where Raja figures prominently, along with party MP Kanimozhi.Arguing his own case, and even getting into the 'box' to be cross-examined continuously for nearly a fortnight, Raja had specific issues to counter — one, he advanced the cut-off date for receiving applications from October 10, 2007 to October 1, 2007, thereby eliminating 408 out of the 575 applicants from the race.Two, violation of the first-come-first-served policy; three, eligibility of various companies that did not have any prior experience, and four, non-revision of entry fee for new operators.Raja stunned the court on more than one occasion by repeating that everyone who mattered, including then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , was aware of the key decisions and that it was Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that had eliminated the 'experience' clause besides making it clear that any firm that could deposit Rs 1,650 crore would be eligible to bid for spectrum."Why would the minister involve outsiders such as the prime minister, the law minister, finance minister, external affairs minister and the solicitor-general of India in the decision-making process if there were a conspiracy?" Raja had contended during court proceedings.An unfazed CBI, however, said he was a consummate liar and the main conspirator who had colluded with inexperienced companies to grant them out-ofturn 2G spectrum licences against kickbacks.The second CBI case involves promoters of Essar Group , Loop Telecom and Saraf.While the court had charged them with the offence under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 420 (cheating) of IPC, substantial charge of cheating was made out against Saraf for allegedly using a "front" to cheat the Department of Telecommunication and secure 2G licences in 2008.READ ALSO: 2G spectrum case judgement: What the court said in its verdict