The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today asked the Supreme Court to refrain from dealing with the merits of its investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation scam, as the probe was being conducted in right earnest. The investigation will be completed within two months and a chargesheet will be filed within a month thereafter.
CBI counsel K K Venugopal told the bench consisting of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice A K Ganguly that premature disclosure of materials would be prejudicial to the success of the investigation. A case has been registered against ‘unknown persons’ in October last year. The magnitude of the probe, which has spread to foreign countries, was enormous and, therefore, the court proceedings and the media coverage should not be allowed to affect the work.
CBI stated that it had raided several corporate houses and companies apart from the offices of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in several places in the country. More than 20 searches have been carried out so far. Nearly 900 documents have been seized. CBI has asked the Income Tax Department to provide the recordings of the conversations of telecom consultant Niira Radia. The recordings have been jointly analysed. After analysing voluminous recordings, Radia herself would be examined, CBI submitted.
Regarding the allegations in the public interest suit (PIL) that Vineet Agarwal, DIG (Anti Corruption Branch), who was investigating the allegations involving Raja, was abruptly transferred, CBI said he was transferred to his parent cadre in Maharashtra after completing the maximum term of seven years in CBI.
Counsel for the petitioner, Centre for PIL, Prashant Bhushan, earlier analysed the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and alleged that former communications minister A Raja had caused tremendous loss to the public exchequer. He alleged, among other things, that Swan Telecom was incorporated in Mauritius by Reliance and then handed over to Raja. It was selected despite the fact that it was not eligible. Public auction was avoided and dates of accepting offers for different telecom circles were arbitrarily changed to suit certain companies.
Counsel for the former minister, T R Andhyarijuna, countered that the CAG report did not say a word about Raja and he was unjustly being pilloried by the media. He said he would clear the picture once he was given a chance to argue. The hearing was adjourned till tomorrow.
The judges criticised the media for blowing things out of proportion, giving a distorted picture to the common persons. While dealing with ‘scams’, which has become a household word, they were asking questions to elicit response from counsel. But the headlines become ‘court slams’, which was not the case. They advised the media to be sensitive to the nature of the proceedings.