2G scam: Court dismisses CBI's plea to place documents

A special court today dismissed CBI's plea seeking its permission to place on record around 15,000 pages of documents in 2G spectrum allocation scam case, observing that their application was "vague" and an attempt was being made to file such materials without explanation.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini said if these documents were allowed to be placed on record at this stage, it would lead to a "huge task" of comparing it with the documents which were already on record and examining further witnesses to prove it and this might result in delay in the trial.

"There is danger of some delicate and sensitive issues getting prejudged and accused may get prejudiced by filing of such large mass of documents, even if they are replica of earlier documents," the court said.

CBI had filed the application in April this year seeking court's permission to place on record the certified copies of certain documents.

Many of the accused had opposed CBI's plea contending that the agency cannot be allowed to fill up the lacunae and filing of such documents would prejudice their case.

The court said: "How a properly proved document can again be properly proved. This plea of the prosecution is beyond understanding. It is not clear as to what the prosecution wants to do. In a sense, it is just duplication of work."

"However, in the instant case, an attempt is being made to file about 15,000 pages of documents without explaining as to what these documents are, what were the objections and how these objections have now been cured or taken care of," the court noted.

Giving details of the documents in the case, the court said evidence in the matter runs into about 4,500 typed pages.

"The documents sought to be filed run into about 15,000 pages. It is a gargantuan task to compare these huge number of pages to find out if what is being said by the prosecution is true or not regarding the curing of defects as well as the documents being exact replica of documents already on record both in nature and contents and details," it said.

The court also said that if 15,000 pages of documents were suffering from deficiency regarding proper certification, "it itself is a comment on the party trying to place them on record. Deficiency in such large number of documents is not a simple defect which can be cured or allowed to be cured."

Former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others are facing trial in the case.