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Special CBI Judge OP Saini, who acquitted all the accused in the purported 2G spectrum scam that had rocked the UPA government, has said that the persecution failed to prove its allegations.
Former telecom minister A Raja, DMK leader Kanimozhi, all other accused, and three companies were also acquitted in the case.
He said that no material on record shows that A Raja was “mother lode of conspiracy” in the instant case.
The judge said that as there are no “proceeds of crime”, there is no need to discuss other issues based on evidence led by the parties.
In its chargesheet, filed in April 2011 against Raja and others, the CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on 2 February 2012.
It’s a lesser known fact that Om Prakash Saini, the Special CBI judge who was chosen exclusively to handle the 2G trial, began his career as a sub-inspector (SI) in the Delhi Police. Hailing from Haryana, Saini sat for the judicial magistrate examination after six years in the police service.
Saini was handpicked to undertake all the trials after the Supreme Court, in 2011, asked the government to set up a special court to hear the 2G cases.
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