The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the CBI on the bail plea of Managing Director of Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, Mr Sanjay Chandra, and Director of Swan Telecom and MD of DB Realty, Mr Vinod Goenka. Both are accused in the 2G spectrum case and are lodged in Tihar jail.

The apex court directed the CBI to file its reply within a fortnight. The accused -- who are facing charges including criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery -- had moved the apex court against the Delhi High Court order in May dismissing their bail application.

Mr Chandra claimed that the CBI does not have any evidence against him on the money trail in the 2G case or regarding the alleged bribing of former Telecom Minister Mr A Raja. Both the accused said they cooperated with the investigating agency and there was no apprehension that they will tamper with any evidence.

Mr Chandra pointed out that he has been in jail for 108 days, adding that the CBI had told the Special Court that the investigation on allegations against him has been completed.

He claimed that he cannot be accused of conspiring with Mr Raja and Department of Telecom officials as the decisions on the cut-off date and first-come-first-served policy for spectrum allocation were taken by the DoT officials including Mr Raja. He also denied that his company benefited from the DoT’s policy on the 2G spectrum allocation.

Pointing out that he was just a shareholder and one of the directors of Swan Telecom, Mr Goenka said he was not involved in the daily affairs of the company’s telecom business. He said while Mr Ajay Chandra, also a shareholder and director of Unitech Wireless, and Mrs Dayalu Karunanidhi, a shareholder of Kalaignar TV, were not named as accused on the ground that they were not involved in their respective company’s business, only he (Mr Goenka) was named an accused in the case even though he was only a shareholder and director. The CBI, by naming him an accused, was being highly discriminatory and arbitrary, he added.

The CBI had said investigation has revealed that Dynamix Realty, a partner of DB Realty, paid Rs 200 crore (the alleged bribe amount) to Kalaignar TV.