All accused can now apply for bail; trial to begin on November 11.
The saga of 2G spectrum allocation, which had begun in 2007, witnessed the end of the first chapter on Saturday with the CBI Special Court pronouncing its order on framing of charges against former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP M Kanimozhi and 15 others, including top corporate honchos. Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, Reliance ADAG Managing Director Gautam Doshi, Group President Surendra Pipara and Senior Vice-President Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka will face trial for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and other charges.
The charges entail a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment if accused are convicted.
| THE FULL SPECTRUM |
| 2010, Nov 14: A Raja forced to resign as telecom minister after a leaked CAG report alleging that the 2G spectrum allocation under him caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer |
| 2010, Nov 16: CAG tables the same 2G report in Parliament |
| 2011, Feb 17: Raja, along with Siddharth Behura, former DoT secretary and |
| RK Chandolia, former PS to Raja, arrested for role in 2G scam and sent to Tihar Jail. |
| 2011, Apr 20: T Vinod Goenka, director, Swan Telecom; Sanjay Chandra, MD, Unitech; Gautam Doshi, group MD, Reliance ADAG; Hari Nair, senior VP, Reliance ADAG; Surendra Pipara, senior VP, Reliance ADAG; arrested and sent to jail |
| 2011, Apr 29: Rajeev Agarwal and Asif Balwa, directors, Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetable, arrested and sent to jail |
| 2011, Apr 30: Karim Morani, MD, Cineyug Enterprises, arrested and sent to jail |
| 2011, May 20: Sharad Kumar, MD, Kalaignar TV, and Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and director Kalaignar TV, arrested and sent to jail |
| 2011, Oct 22: CBI Special Court pronounces order on framing of charges against the 17 accused, including Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless, and Reliance Telecom |
| 2011, Nov 11: Commencement of trial for the 2G accused |
The framing of charges has come a good nine months after Delhi’s Patiala House Court started hearing the case and eight months after Raja was taken into judicial custody. It is being seen as an important milestone in the 2G scam case, which may have caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer as per CAG estimates. November 11 is the date set for the start of the trial in the special court. Also, the Supreme Court can now decide on the bail plea by the 2G accused as the charges have been framed.
However, lawyers pointed out that the trial for the case can go on for several months, maybe years. However, bail can be granted during the process. Many of the accused have already applied for bail, including Kanimozhi, daughter of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. While Kanimozhi’s bail in the special court is coming up on October 24, the Reliance Telecom executives’ bail petition will be heard by the Supreme Court on October 31.
While most companies allegedly involved in the 2G scam remained quiet, Reliance ADAG issued a statement saying the company was moving the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the charges against it and its executives. Based on the prima facie evidence, special CBI judge included the charge of criminal breach of trust by a public servant against Raja, Siddharth Behura, former DoT secretary, and R K Chandolia, former personal secretary to Raja, under section 409 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). All the other accused will face the same charge along with criminal conspiracy under 120-B of Prevention of Corruption Act. Section 409, which was added by CBI after both the chargesheets were filed, entails a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum of life imprisonment.
The framing of charges is the first step towards the beginning of the trial where now the witnesses will be cross examined by both the parties. The 2G case hearing began in February this year. Although the defence lawyers showed displeasure over the inclusion of the charge of criminal breach of trust, they called it a positive step later. “Things will now start to move hopefully, and the accused can now file for bail,” said one of the lawyers.
Many of the counsels of the accused, including Raja’s lawyer Sushil Kumar, voiced their displeasure against inclusion of some of the charges and even refused to sign the petition saying “I plead not guilty and claim trial” initially on the grounds that the investigation is still not complete.
Kumar told O P Saini, special CBI judge, “Ladai to ab shuru hogi. Abhi tak toh one way traffic tha. Aap ab tak sun lete the, karte to wohi thejo apko karna tha.”
The special court toed the line of CBI, accepting all the charges put forth by the investigative agency in the first and second chargesheet in the order it gave on Saturday barring a charge of forgery being dropped against Reliance executives.
Beside the charges put forth by CBI, the special court put an additional charge of fabrication of documents for presenting false affidavit in the court against Shahid Balwa, director, Swan Telecom, Asif Balwa, director, Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetable, Vinod Goenka, director, Swan Telecom, and Rajeev Agarwal, director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetable.
An important implication of this development is that the accused can now move their bail pleas as mentioned by the Supreme Court (SC). The SC had said earlier that only after the framing of charges can it give an order on any of the bail applications. Besides the Reliance executives, Sanjay Chandra, MD, Unitech, had earlier moved the apex court for bail.
As part of the 2G case, CBI has sought the Attorney General's opinion on Rs associate companies' in relation to Loop Telecom's linkages with Essar. Also, an FIR has been filed against another former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal, though not directly connected to the 2G scam under Raja.
