The former Telecom Minister and accused in the 2G spectrum case, Mr A. Raja, on Friday alleged before a Special Court that the CBI has made his ex-aide Mr Aseervatham Achary a “false witness” in order to give statements against him.

Deposing before the Special Court, Mr Achary had earlier alleged that Mr Raja had a long association with some of the corporate executives accused in the case.

Senior advocate Mr Sushil Kumar, representing Mr Raja, told the court that Mr Achary was a ‘created and false' witness of CBI. Mr Raja's counsel claimed that the accusation made by Mr Achary on Thursday — regarding a man later identified as Mr Jai Prakash ‘threatening' him and family — was a mere “drama” aimed mainly at influencing the bail plea of Mr R.K. Chandolia (Mr Raja's former private secretary and an accused in the 2G case) that is slated to be taken up on January 2 by the Supreme Court. In spite of appearing in the court many times since December 13, Mr Achary had not told the court regarding any threat, Mr Kumar said.

Denying these allegations, Mr Achary told the court that, “It was incorrect to suggest that Thursday's incident was planned by me in collusion with the investigation agency.”

The judge sought to know if Mr Achary had made any complaint about threat to his life earlier and noted that the accused in the case would not have got bail if Mr Achary's complaint would have been on the record earlier.

Mr Achary said he was provided police security in April-May 2011 following his plea and had reported to the CBI about his personal security officer's (PSO) version of Mr Prakash's attempt to visit him at his residence. He said, “I did not disclose this fact to the court on December 19, when my examination started, as I thought CBI was taking care of that. In the morning yesterday, when my PSO pointed out that the person (who ‘threatened' him) was sitting (in the court) with Chandolia, I was surprised and shocked by that and decided to disclose about that.”

Mr Achary also said that he knows the Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy, but not personally, adding that he had visited the latter's residence to meet his wife. When he was shown a copy of Dr Swamy's book on the 2G scam in which he has been described as a ‘courageous whistleblower', Mr Achary said he does not know if it refers to him.Though Mr Prakash attempted to flee on Thursday after being pointed out by Mr Achary, the police posted at the court apprehended him.

On being asked by the court on Thursday about his presence there, Mr Prakash said he comes to the court with food and water for Reliance ADAG officials accused in the case. Mr Prakash denied all the allegations including that he had gone to Mr Achary's residence. Last evening, the police said no case has been registered against him and that he was let off since it seems that it was a case of mistaken identity and he had not threatened Mr Achary.

>arun.s@thehindu.co.in

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