Exclusive: Ex-CBI Officer Blames Then-Director in Spectrum Case

I was bypassed by the then-CBI Director, says a former senior CBI officer in the quashed spectrum case.

File image DMK leader Kanimozhi. (Photo: Reuters)

On Thursday, the Special Court hearing a case on the allotment of additional telecom spectrum during the 2002-03 NDA Government tenure criticised the CBI for its investigation and quashed the chargesheet against the former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and the three telecom firms who were accused.

Speaking exclusively to The Quint, a former senior officer of the CBI, who was part of the investigation has blamed the then-Director of the CBI Amar Pratap Singh for the chargesheet.

I was bypassed by AP Singh in the final decision in the case. I never made any recommendation or comments on file regarding who should be prosecuted in the case.
— Former CBI officer to The Quint

To add to this, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer has now told The Quint that they weren’t convinced of the charges either.

When we received a copy of the chargesheet filed by the CBI in this case, we were aghast. We were wondering on what grounds the CBI prepared the chargesheet. I am glad that my seniors decided not to attach any property in this case. Or else today we too would have been in trouble.
— Senior Enforcement Directorate officer to The Quint

In a strongly worded order, Judge OP Saini said, “It (chargesheet) has been so drafted as to create an impression of a grave crime where there is none.” The court further added that the chargesheet is a “distorted and fabricated document, based on deliberately redacted and garbled facts.’’

The judge speaks of ‘extraneous reasons’ to which India’s premier agency succumbed while filing the chargesheet. When The Quint asked the ED official whether they faced any external pressure while investigating the case, this is what he said:

We too were facing a lot of political pressure. But we chose to remain silent and not to act much in this case.
— Senior ED officer to The Quint

Senior officers of the CBI whom The Quint tried to contact declined to comment on the case. A CBI spokesperson however said, “We have received the copy of the judgement and that matter is being examined.”

CBI Case Against Pramod Mahajan, Shyamal Ghosh

On 31 January 2002, the then-Telecom Minister Pramod Mahajan and the Secretary Shyamal Ghosh allocated to telecom companies additional spectrum beyond 6.2MHz up to 10MHz at a lower prize thereby causing revenue loss to the government exchequer up to Rs 844 crore. The CBI said that the minister and secretary connived to pass on undue favours to these telecom companies.

Now that the court has come down heavily on the CBI, the question arises — who will bell the cat? Will the CBI conduct an inquiry against its own men? Or will the matter be handed over to an external agency?