In the ongoing telecom spectrum case trial, A N Sethuraman, group president of Reliance ADAG, on Wednesday said he was not satisfied with the content of his statement as recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the prosecuting agency. He happens to be a witness for the prosecution.
He said CBI did not pay heed to his objections. “I protested to the officer to change the contents thereof relating to identification of signatures of Hari Nair (an ADA Group staffer, and one of those charged).”
Sethuraman maintained he had stated the signature appeared to be that of Reliance Telecom’s executive Hari Nair and did not actually identify it. He had registered the same protest with CBI on November 9 and was told by Rajesh Chehal, Deputy SP, that “it was too late” and he could not change the statement now.
According to Sethuraman, he had visited the CBI office between January and March and did not make any formal entry of his arrival there. “Last week, I had gone through my statement…to refresh my memory as told by the officer. It is correct that despite having gone through my statement last week, I have told in my deposition at several places that I do not recall many facts,” he said.
Amit Sarin, CEO, Anantraj Industries and Vardharajan Srinivasan, vice-president of HDFC Bank, Mumbai, where the account for Swan Telecom was opened, were the other two witnesses present, but they could not be questioned due to the cross-examination of Sethuraman, which is to continue tomorrow.