On Friday, the Delhi High Court admitted the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja, a current Lok Sabha MP and a former telecom minister, and several other individuals in the 2G spectrum allotment scam case.
Delhi High Court admits the appeal of CBI against the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja, DMK leader Kanimozhi, businessman and then government officials in 2G Spectrum allocation case.
All the accused were acquitted by a special Court in December 2017. Central Bureau…
— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2024
Also read: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Withdraws Plea Challenging Arrest by ED in Delhi Liquor Policy Case
Justice DK Sharma pronounced the verdict
According to Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, the CBI has established a prima facie case that demands further investigation and a thorough hearing of the appeal based on the evidence in the file and the arguments put up by the parties’ attorneys.
“Leave to appeal is granted. List the appeal for hearing in May,” the judge said.
“This court finds that a prima facie case has been established, albeit one that necessitates a more thorough review of all available information, having reviewed the documents on file, the challenged judgment, and the statements made at the hearing by both sides,” the court added.
The 2G Scam
In the 2G spectrum case, members of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government in India as well as private officials are accused of selling or granting 122 2G spectrum licenses under terms that benefit particular telecom operators. The then-Telecom Minister A. Raja was charged with selling 2G spectrum licenses for extremely low prices, which cost the government ₹1,760 billion.
Case proceedings
On March 21, 2018, the High Court held the case’s initial hearing. A total of 125 hearings have been held before different judges thus far.
The CBI argued that the trial court’s decision to exonerate every accused person in the case contained “glaring illegalities.” Senior Special Public Prosecutor Sanjay Jain, a senior advocate, represented the CBI.
A special court here cleared A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and several other individuals on December 21, 2017, of all charges stemming from the matter of the purported Rs. 1.76 lakh crores 2G scam.
Also read: Aam Aadmi Party to hold Nationwide Protest against Kejriwal’s Arrest; Rahul Gandhi to meet his family
The court also cleared Raja and Kanimozhi, as well as Siddharth Behura, Raja’s previous private secretary, R K Chandolia, Sanjay Chandra, MD of Unitech Limited, and Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, and Hari Nair, three high-ranking officials of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG).
Film producer Karim Morani, Sharad Kumar, Swan Telecom Private Limited, Unitech Wireless Limited, and Reliance Telecom Limited were among the others who were found not guilty. In the case, Rajiv Agarwal, Asif Balwa, Vinod Goenka, and Shahid Balwa were also acquitted.
The Delhi High Court was contacted by the ED in March 2018 to contest the acquittal ruling. CBI thereafter submitted a plea contesting the acquittal.
In its 2011 chargesheet, the CBI claimed that Raja had colluded with his former private secretary, R.K. Chandolia, to move the deadline for applications to be considered for the allotment of 2G spectrum until September 25, 2007. This was done in order to unlawfully benefit Vinod Goenka, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, and Swan Telecom’s Shahid Balwa.
Nine corporations were also listed as accused in the chargesheet that the ED filed.
