2G: Delhi court allows Swamy’s plea that Raja be prosecuted

The court said Swamy will first have to depose as a complainant in the case and then his plea — seeking to be the deemed public prosecutor — could be decided.

“You cannot assume the roles of a complainant and a public prosecutor simultaneously,” the judge said.

“I am not seeking the dual role,” Swamy replied and added,”I will first testify as a complainant and then would like to assist this court in prosecuting the accused in the massive scam.”

The judge said,”I have also gone through the complaint and the bunch of annexures and supporting documents and I am of the view that this complaint is maintainable and the proceeding will continue.”

The court concluded recording Subramanian Swamy’s statement in the 2G case and fixed February 5 as the next date of hearing.

The judge also said applications to summon Raja and the other accused can be filed at a later stage.

Swamy had filed a private complaint before the designated CBI court on December 15 last year seeking the prosecution of Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

He had made a three-fold prayer which included that his complaint be taken cognisance of and Raja be summoned to take the case involving a fraud of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to its logical conclusion.

As per the second prayer,Swamy wanted the court to appoint him “as a deemed public prosecutor under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act”.

As per his third prayer,Swamy wanted the court’s directions to investigating agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to assist him in conducting the prosecution and in the further investigation into the scam.

Explaining his rational to the court for filing his private complaint before it,Swamy had said that though the CBI has registered an FIR in the matter,it has named no body as an accused.

Quoting from the CAG report,he had alleged that Raja committed fraud by adopting the first-come-first-served basis in allocating the spectrum to ineligible companies.

85 out of 122 licenses which were awarded to various companies were illegal,Swamy had said,adding that the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore has been arrived at by the CAG after computing the losses in allocation of the spectrum.

In his complaint for prosecution of Raja filed under section 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC),Swamy also sought directions to the investigative agencies to find out the co-conspirators and other accused in the scam.

Later,Swamy recorded his statement as a complainant detailing the sequence of events and the criminality involved in the award of 122 Telecom licenses on January 11,2008.

“In view of all the statements and the documents,contained in detail in my 375-pages complaint,a strong prime facie case is made out against former Telecom Minister A Raja. They are confirmed by the findings of the CAG report which necessities the cognisance of my complaint and setting of the process under the CrPC for a proper prosecution of the matter,” Swamy testified.

During the hour-long court proceeding,the Janata Party leader presented various documents to support his complaint and said it be taken note of by issuing summons or non-bailable warrant against Raja.

The court asked Swamy to proceed with the case under the provisions of the CrPC and deferred the summoning aspect for future hearing.

“We will not hesitate in issuing process against the accused if prima facie sufficient material are brought on the record,” the judge said.

The court then posted the matter for February 5 for examining of other witnesses.

Meanwhile,Swamy said that he would move a proper application to examine CAG officials to probe the report which indicted A Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.