The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday opposed the Janata Party President, Dr Subramanian Swamy's plea for investigation by the agency into the alleged role of the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in the 2G spectrum case.

Arguing before the Supreme Court against Dr Swamy's petition, the CBI counsel, Mr K.K. Venugopal, said the agency's probe in the 2G case — barring the alleged role of former Telecom Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, — has been completed and chargesheets filed before a Special Court.

Therefore, any further investigation or addition of accused can only be directed by the Special Court and not by the Supreme Court, Mr Venugopal added. He also said there are many Supreme Court judgements to the effect that the Court cannot interfere or direct the manner of investigation by the police.

Dr Swamy wanted the apex court to direct the CBI to investigate Mr Chidambaram's alleged role and file a status report to the Court. Mr Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in 2008 when the 2G spectrum was allocated during the tenure of the then Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja.

Dr Swamy has filed before the apex court the documents of four meetings in 2008 involving Mr Chidambaram and Mr Raja regarding the 2G spectrum licence pricing. He said that since it is clear from the CBI's correspondence and chargesheet that it has apparent knowledge of these documents, the question arises as to why the agency is insistent that Mr Raja was solely responsible for the price fixing of the 2G spectrum.

Referring to a Home Ministry advisory to the Finance Minister raising security concerns about Etisalat and Telenor, Dr Swamy alleged that despite this information, the Finance Ministry allowed these two companies to invest into two new players which got licence in 2008.

Citing the Comptroller and Auditor General Report on the 2G spectrum allocation, he said it had pointed to the prima facie lapse of the then Finance Minister, adding that the ‘lapse' is worthy of a probe by the CBI.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW