Delhi HC Issues Notice to 2G Scam Accused on Plea by CBI, ED

The special court had on 21 December acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in cases registered by the CBI and the ED.

DMK MP Kanimozhi (left) and former Telecom Minister, A Raja, the key accused in the 2G spectrum case.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Delhi High Court issued notice to all accused in the 2G Spectrum case on the appeal filed by Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court also ordered to maintain status quo in relation to properties of the accused attached by the ED. It set the next date of hearing on 25 May.

“The court while issuing notice on interim application granted status quo order with regard to attached property, this means the property remains with the ED,” Rajeev Awasthi, Advocate who is representing the ED in the 2G Spectrum case told ANI.

The CBI had on Tuesday, 20 March, moved the Delhi High Court challenging a special court order acquitting former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

The matter was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta.

The special court had on 21 December 2017 acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others in the ED’s case, 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 Director of Kalaignar TV Sharad Kumar.

The ED, in its chargesheet, 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 RK 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.

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on 2 February 2012.

Special Judge OP Saini had held that the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove the charges.

The special court, which was set up on 14 March 2011 for hearing 2G cases exclusively, had also acquitted Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe.

The first case, prosecuted by the CBI, had 17 accused, while the second matter, pursued by the ED, had 19 accused. The third one had eight accused including Essar promoters.

In the CBI case, Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others were tried under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, using fake documents as genuine, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.