Magazine
| Ezine |
| Current Issue |
| Magazine-Archive |
| News |
| News - Archive |
| Advertise with Us |
| Subscribe |
| Buy Latest Issue |
Subscribe Newsletter
| CBI court frames charges against 17 accused in 2G scam |
| Monday, 24 October 2011 | |
|
Despite indirect attempts by the law ministry and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to weaken the case, the CBI special court on Saturday found prima facie evidence against all the 17 accused in the 2G spectrum scam and decided to frame charges against them under various sections ranging from criminal breach of public trust, cheating, forgery and Prevention of Corruption Act. Subsequently the trial in the case will begin from November 11 as it enters its most crucial phase where witnesses will be called for testimony and can be cross-examined by the defendants. All the 17 accused — former telecom minister A Raja, his former associates Siddharth Behura and RK Chandolia; Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka from Swan/DB Realty; Sanjay Chandra of Unitech; Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair of ADAG; Kanimozhi of the DMK; and seven others related to the scam — are currently in judicial custody. While the bail pleas of some are already in the Supreme Court, others are expected to file their pleas now as indicated by their lawyers on Saturday. They also indicated that they will appeal against the trial court’s order of Saturday in the Delhi High Court. Saturday’s development can be seen as a severe setback for the law ministry, as well as the TRAI, apart from the accused, because the two had made indirect attempts to weaken the prosecution’s case. The law ministry, for instance, had come out with an unsolicited definition of associate companies according to which Swan could not be seen as a front for the ADAG. Similarly, the TRAI had come out with a notorious covering letter to a report stating that it never suggested either an auction or revision of the entry fee for granting new licenses. The accused had used these two reports to argue that there was no case against them. While the CBI had opposed the reports calling them unsolicited and irrelevant, the court had nevertheless asked it to present them before it for fairness and transparency of the trial. With the court finally deciding to go ahead with the framing of charges against all the 17 accused, it is clear that it has rejected the findings of the law ministry and TRAI. In addition to other charges, the court also said there was evidence for framing of charges against Raja and Behura under Section 409 of the IPC for the offence of breach of trust against them which attracts maximum punishment of life-term. While CBI had slapped this charge later, other charges stem from its charge sheet first filed on April 2. The court wanted to frame the charges on Saturday itself but all the accused said they need time to go through the over 700-page order on charges to be framed later. Later in the evening, Reliance Telecom Ltd, a 100 percent subsidiary of Reliance Communications and part of the ADA group, three executives of which are charge sheeted, issued a statement. While reiterating its earlier stand that it did not violate any law and derive any benefit from the licences issued in January 2008, the company said that the framing of charges does not tantamount to either admission of guilt by the executives or opinion by the court. The company said that it will appeal in the high court for quashing of the charges framed, while the bail petition of its three executives will come up in the Supreme Court on October 31. – Financial Express |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
© Copyright 2007, ADI Media Pvt. Ltd.-Telecommunication, Broadband & Networking Magazine Publishers