NOT GUILTY
Judgemeant
SNAPPY RINGTONE Special judge acquits all 35 accused in the 2G scam, berates investigating agencies for shoddy probe; Congress, BJP in war of words
A special court acquitted all 35 accused in the so-called 2G scam case and criticised the prosecution for its failure to prove any of the charges in a move that both the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam see as a vindication of their stand.
Special Judge, OP Saini, who has overseen the trial of all 2G spectrum cases since early 2011 said on Thursday that his sevenyear wait for evidence ended “all in vain” because the case was mainly based on “rumour, gossip and speculation”.
The 2G scam roiled the UPA in its second term and became a campaign issue in the 2014 Parliamentary election. “It has been proved now that the BJP speaks lies and propaganda to win elections,” said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Those acquitted are: former telecom minister A Raja; Rajya Sabha member and DMK leader K Kanimozhi, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura; Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia; Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka; Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra; three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) , Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair; Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, the directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd ; Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar ; and Bollywood producer Karim
NEWDELHI:
Morani. Three telecom firms, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd were also acquitted.
The 2G scam dates back to 2008 when some telecom companies were alloted licences and allocated spectrum. There were allegations that the cut-off date for submissions was changed to help some of the applicants; that the first-come first-served rule was tweaked to suit a few telcos; that Swan and Unitech were ineligible to apply but allowed to; and that a payoff of ₹200 crore was made by Kusegaon Fruits to Kalaignar TV, promoted by the family of DMK supremo MK Karunanidhi.
The controversy captured public imagination after the government auditor CAG said in a report that the notional losses to the state on account of irregularities was ₹1.76 lakh crore.
The CBI made its first arrest in the case in 2011. Separately, in response to a public interest litigation, the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the allotment of licences and allocation of spectrum in 2008 was “unconstitutional” and “arbitrary” and cancelled 122 licences.
For the last seven years, I religiously sat in the open court from 10 am to 5 pm, waiting for someone with legally admissible evidence in his possession but all in vain. Not a single soul turned up