2G accused denied permission to go abroad by court

Loop Telecom promoters I P Khaitan and his wife Kiran Khaitan, accused in a 2G scam-related case, were today denied permission to travel overseas by a special court here.

Special CBI judge O P Saini dismissed the Khaitans' plea in which they had sought court's permission to travel to Dubai from today to April 30 on the grounds like health checkup, business interests and maintenance of their NRI status.

The court said the judgments can be expected in the present and related cases in a short period of time ranging from three to four months and "letting the accused leave the country at such a critical stage of the case may not be prudent".
 

"The trial of the case is complete in all respects and even final arguments are complete. Since the arguments in the connected case(s) are almost complete, judgments can be expected in a short period of time ranging from three to four months. In such a situation, I find myself in agreement with Special Public Prosecutor that letting the accused to leave the country at such a critical stage of the case may not be prudent," the judge said.

The court had in September last year also denied similar permission to the couple, saying, "there is a tendency among accused in high profile cases to go abroad and never return".

In both the applications, the Khaitans had told the court that they were ready to abide by any condition imposed by it.

Besides the Khaitans, Essar Group promoters Ravi and Anshuman Ruia and group official Vikash Saraf are also facing trial in the case.

Three telecom firms -- Loop Telecom Ltd, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holdings Ltd -- are also facing trial in the case.

The five individual accused, who are out on bail, have denied the charges levelled by CBI. The three firms have also refuted these allegations.

CBI had listed these accused in a charge sheet on December 12, 2011, alleging they had cheated the DoT by using Loop Telecom as a "front" to secure 2G licences in 2008.

On May 25, 2012, the court had framed charges against all the accused under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 420 (cheating) of the IPC, while the substantive charge of cheating was made out only against Saraf.