Two cases, the telecom scam and the disproportionate assets litigation, have kept former telecommunications minister Sukhram, 86, in the loop of the courts for over a decade now. Last Friday in the Delhi High Court, Justice S Muralidhar found his appeal against his July 2002 conviction in the Rs 1.86 crore telecom scam too “substantive” for a single judge to decide. Pending in the HC for seven years, the appeal was referred to the Chief Justice.

Even more interesting is the history of the second case of Sukhram’s disproportionate wealth. It took a 13-year-long trial heard by six Special Judges and argued by two special CBI prosecutors before he was served three years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh in February 2009. In the interim, Sukhram moved the HC for a speedy trial, arguing that every instance of delay was judicial prejudice shown against him. Though the chargesheet was filed on 1997, corruption charges were framed against Sukhram in 2001. It took another five years for the CBI to submit all the 66 pieces of documentary evidence needed for the case. Sukhram’s statement was recorded over a span of 11 months from March 21, 2003 to January 29, 2004. The Special Court spent a total of 42 days in approximately six years — from October 30, 2001 to April 13, 2007 — to examine 64 prosecution witnesses.

The most high-profile of several adjournments came in a series of unsuccessful attempts by the trial court to complete the testimony of prosecution witness P V Narasimha Rao. Rao was examined on November 6, 2004, before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Reena Singh Nag, who described the 84-year-old former PM in her order as “infirm, sick and unable to walk comfortably on his own”. Sukhram wanted to cross-examine him, but had to adjourn the session because his lawyer P D Sharma was unwell that day. The delay kicked off a succession of adjournments with Sukhram never being able to cross -examine Rao, who died before a scheduled hearing on December 26, 2004. Then there was a nine-month gap, between December 15, 2005 and August 23, 2006, in completing the testimony of the next witness. The examination of Amitabh Shukla, the then additional commissioner of Income Tax who led the raid on Sukhram’s residence, was stopped when the witness heard that “his son was not well”.

... contd.