HC NOTICE TO RAJA, KANIMOZHI
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response of former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others on the CBI'S plea challenging their acquittal by a special court in the 2G spectrum case.
A similar order was passed by Justice SP Garg on the plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging their acquittal in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam case. While issuing notices to Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the two cases, the court asked them to file their responses before the next date of hearing on May 25.
The court also allowed the interim plea of the ED, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, for maintaining status quo with regard to the properties worth around Rs 223 crore which the agency had attached in the money laundering case.
The ED did not want the properties to be released from attachment, a consequence of the acquittal in the money laundering case, saying that third party rights might be created in them.
While granting the agency's request for status quo, the court also asked why it had come so late if it wanted that relief.
The court was initially not inclined to pass any interim order staying the release of attachment without first hearing the other side.
However, after the ASG cited past judgements in which such orders have been passed, the court ordered that status quo be maintained regarding the properties attached by the ED.
On March 19, the ED moved the high court challenging the special court's order acquitting all the accused in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam.
Yesterday, the CBI too challenged in the high court the acquittal of the accused in the case.
A special court on December 21 last year had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the CBI and ED cases.
Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case.
The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd (STPL) promoters to Dmk-run Kalaignar TV.
On the same day, the trial court had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others, including 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 and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI'S 2G case.