Charge of Rs 22,000-cr loss from 2G is serious, says court

A day after his arrest, Mr A.Raja, former Communications and IT Minister, was today remanded to CBI custody for five days by a Delhi court that said the charge of loss of Rs 22,000 crore in award of the 2G spectrum licences to some companies by his decisions “are very serious“. Mr Siddharth Behura, former Telecom Secretary, and Mr R. K. Chandolia, who was private secretary to Mr Raja, who were also arrested on Wednesday, were similarly remanded.

The CBI had also alleged that the accused, in criminal conspiracy with private persons/companies, had abused their official position, and favoured some applicants including Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless, which led to the loss.

“The allegations are very serious on the face of it and require no elaboration. Accordingly, considering the nature of the allegations, seriousness and gravity of offences and consequent need of interrogation of the accused persons in the light of the allegations, I am satisfied that prayer for police custody remand is justified. All three accused are accordingly remanded to police custody till February 8,” said the Special Judge (CBI), Mr O.P. Saini, in his seven-page order.

He also said all the accused shall be medically examined every 48 hours, adding that their counsel and family members can meet them for half an hour daily during the remand period.

Earlier, in the afternoon, the CBI produced the three accused, including a sombre-looking Mr Raja, attired in a grey safari suit, before the court, which was packed with media persons and lawyers.

The court noted CBI counsel Mr Akhilesh's submission that many people were involved in “this deep rooted conspiracy” and for unearthing the entire facts, further interrogation of the accused was required. The CBI also claimed that the accused were evasive in their replies while questioning, adding that the accused need to be confronted with various documents and other accused persons.

The CBI alleged that the loss to the exchequer can be estimated mainly from just two facts – that Swan Telecom was allotted the licence for 13 circles for Rs 1,537 crore, but the company offloaded 45 per cent of its share in the licence before roll out to the UAE-based Etisalat for Rs 4,200 crore.

Similarly, Unitech Wireless was allotted the licence for 22 circles for Rs 1,658 crore, but it offloaded 60 per cent of its share to Telenor of Norway for Rs 6,100 crore before the roll-out, the CBI claimed. The CBI said the total loss was calculated on a pro-rata basis for 122 circles.

Mr Raja's counsel, Mr Ramesh Gupta denied the allegations and said that the arrests were totally unjustified.

“Since the allegations in the FIR are unverified and the figure of loss arrived at by the CBI was imaginary and because Mr Raja was cooperating with the CBI, the arrest and prayer for custody remand was wholly unjustified,” Mr Gupta said.

Taking note of Mr Behura's plea that his wife has to undergo a cancer operation, the court said he shall be taken to the hospital on February 5 to meet his wife before and after her operation, if she undergoes such an operation on that day.

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