The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today opposed the bail plea of five corporate honchos, who appeared as accused after being named in the charge sheet in the 2G spectrum scam case, in a Delhi court saying that from being "suspects" they have become "accused".
"The status of a person changes in law after filing of the charge sheet. They are not entitled to release on bail ipso facto (by default) on appearance before the court. From being suspects, they have now become accused and hence, will have to justify their bail plea," senior advocate UU Lalit, who has been appointed as a special prosecutor by the Supreme Court, said.
"There are nearly 180 prosecution witnesses and some of them are under political perception of threat," Lalit said and gave some classified documents to CBI Judge OP Saini who has been appointed to hear exclusively the 2G case on day-to-day basis.
After defence lawyers sought a copy of the document, Lalit said "it is not for you. I may use them in our reply."
The plea drew sharp reactions from defence lawyers, including senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, KTS Tulsi and Ranjit Kumar who said in fact it is CBI which will have to justify the arrest in the backdrop of the fact that the accused were not arrested during the investigation.
Top corporate leaders Swan Telecom Director Vinod Goenka, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, and three top officials of Reliance ADAG Gautam Doshi, Surrendra Pipara and Hari Nair appeared in the packed courtroom alongwith a battery of lawyers. They were not arrested in the case.