The Supreme Court on Friday quashed ongoing trials against Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman and managing director of Bharti Cellular Ltd, and Ravi Ruia, the promoter of Essar Group, in a case of allocation of additional spectrum.
The court quashed the CBI special court's order making the two top telecom executives accused in the case.
The industrialists had been summoned as accused by a special CBI court hearing the case involving the allocation of additional second 2G spectrum in 2002. Their names had not figured in the chargesheet submitted by the CBI, which was handling the case.
Both Mittal and Ruia had approached the Supreme Court, challenging the order.
Mittal maintained through his legal representative that he could not be held "vicariously liable" for a criminal offence of a company unless there was evidence.
Ruia claimed that he was not connected with the day-to-day affairs of Sterling Cellular Ltd, and added that he had been wrongly summoned.
In April 2013, the Supreme Court said the hearing against them will remain "postponed" until further orders.
The case relates to alleged irregularities in allocation of additional spectrum - 10 Mhz instead of 6.2 Mhz - during the NDA rule.
Earlier, the lower court had also summoned Asim Ghosh, the then Managing Director of another firm that was allegedly involved-Hutchison Max Telecom Private Limited.
