2G: All the Rajas Men

The 1984-batch Indian Economic Service officer was Rajas private secretary during UPA-I when the licences were awarded. When Raja became the Telecom Minister once again in UPA-II,Chandolia had been promoted to the Joint Secretary rank. So,technically he could not serve as a private secretary to a minister. Raja re-designated him Economic Adviser,giving him charge of all important policy-related work. He was reporting directly to the Secretary. Chandolia interacted with all the licensees. It is said that it was he who,from DDG-access services A K Srivastavas room,had handed out letters of intent to representatives of various companies.

Siddharth Behura

Was secretary,DoT,from January 1,2008 to September 30,2009. It was Behura who signed the files leading to the allocation of 122 licences. Behura had earlier told The Indian Express that he had merely implemented a decision taken by Telecom Minister A Raja before he became the DoT Secretary,and so had no choice. Behuras predecessor,D S Mathur,had refused to sign the files which had delayed the grant of the licences. Mathur retired on December 31,2007.

A K Srivastava

An Indian Telecommunications Service officer who served as DDG-access services. This division is one of the most important in the Department of Telecom since it deals with all matters relating to licensing and rollout of services. Had Srivastava refused to play ball,Raja and Chandolia would not have been able to award the licences. Checking the eligibility of the companies was also his job 85 of the 122 licences were given to companies that did not meet the criteria.

K Sridharan

Served as Member-Technology in the Telecom Commission,which is the apex policymaking body of the DoT. When Mathur refused to play ball with Raja and refused to advance the cutoff date for accepting applications to September 25,2007 (the earlier date was October 1,2007),Sridharan obliged Raja. In November,2007,when Mathur was abroad for a few days on an official assignment,Sridharan,as the seniormost member of the Commission,signed the file relating to advancing the cutoff date.

A M Sadhick Batcha

The Managing Director of Green House Promoters Pvt Ltd is an MBA. The young entrepreneur,who hails from Rajas native town Perambalur,is allegedly one of the business associates of the former minister. The company was floated months after Raja became a minister at the Centre in 2004. And in a short period,the real estate company spread its wings in the tier-II cities of Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India. Steady progress followed over the years; then Batcha and his firm under the scanner after it was revealed that the company indirectly benefited from the spectrum scam by getting shares of a company which,in turn,became a partner in Swan Telecom,one of the beneficiaries of the first-come-first-served policy. The CBI had conducted raids at his office in Chennai in January,though the details were not revealed. A Kaliaperumal,Rajas elder brother,is the Joint MD of Green House Promoters.