2G charges framed,life term shadow over all 17

Raja and former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura were charged with either criminal breach of trust or cheating (IPC 420),both to be read along with the charge of criminal conspiracy. This means they can be convicted for either,depending on the evidence.

It also means that the charge of criminal breach of trust against all the accused hinges on whether the charge sticks on Raja and Behura. In effect,if the two are found guilty,the others too could be found guilty of a charge punishable by a life term.

The trial will begin with the prosecution presenting three witnesses on November 11. Bail pleas of eight of the accused will be heard starting Monday.

In a September 26 application,the CBI had sought to charge Raja,Behura and Raja’s personal secretary R K Chandolia under IPC 409 as they were public servants,and the other 14 under Section 409 read with 120-B,implying that they had conspired with the first three. The judge chose to charge Raja and Behura with criminal conspiracy too,and excluded Chandolia from this bracket,reportedly because his role was not “substantive” as he signed no documents.

“You accused A Raja and Behura dishonestly,in pursuance to the conspiracy,disposed of/allocated valuable spectrum,over which you were having dominion,which was entrusted to you in the capacity of being public servants,to M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited and M/s Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Limited in violation of law with a view to a cause wrongful gain to these companies and thereby you committed an offence punishable under Section 409 read with 120-B IPC,and within my cognisance,” said the order.

As per the first chargesheet,filed on April 2,the first eight accused were to be charged under IPC Sections 120 B,468,471 and 420,and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. To this,the court added sections 7,11 and 12 of the PC Act. The court invoked sections 7 and 11 because Raja is alleged to have “received a bribe of Rs 200 crore from M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited/ M/s DB Realty Limited in consideration of grant of UAS Licence/Spectrum to it,which was collected by M/s Kalaignar TV (P) Limited of Sharad Kumar and Kanimozhi…”

The five – including Kanimozhi – named in the supplementary chargesheet,on April 25,have also been additionally charged with the conspiracy to commit the offences that their co-accused have allegedly committed. This means Kanimozhi will find herself defending a host of charges under the IPC along with those she has been charged with under the PC Act.

In addition to the charges common to all accused,Section 193 of the IPC (false evidence) read with 120-B has been invoked against Shahid Usman Balwa,Vinod Goenka,Rajeev Aggarwal,Asif Balwa,Karim Morani and Sharad Kumar for creating “false documents to show the bribe amount of Rs 200 crore as loan and with a view to use them in any stage of judicial proceeding…”

The three officers of Reliance Telecom,along with their company,have been additionally charged under Section 109 (abetment): “….You Gautam Doshi,Hari Nair,Surendra Pipara and M/s Reliance Telecom Limited,in pursuance to the conspiracy,passed on an ineligible company to Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka knowing that it was ineligible on the date of applications and thereby you abetted Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka of M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited to obtain UAS Licenses/spectrum…”

The judge,who reserved the order on October 14,has been hearing the case since June 25,when special public prosecutor U U Lalit opened arguments on framing of charges.