A day in the 2G courtroom

The couple is in the left corner of the 8×12 metre room. Second row from behind. There are five rows on the right,six on the left. During hearings,the room,with nearly 60 chairs,is packed way beyond its capacity.

Here in this CBI court,nestled in a corner of the Patiala House Court Complex in New Delhi,the seating arrangement is fixed.

Three front rows on the right are occupied by a former minister (A Raja),the daughter of an ex-chief minister (Kanimozhi),a young billionaire (Etisalat DB promoter Shahid Balwa),the MD of a TV channel (Kalaignar TV’s Sharad Kumar) and their acquaintances. This block in the courtroom is where the action is. Thick bundles of case files are stacked on a large table before them,sharing space with chewing gum strips and water bottles. The showstopper here is the tall Shahid Balwa in jeans and a tee-shirt. Three months in jail haven’t dented his biceps. Armed with markers,he flips through the files all day,pointing out nuances to his lawyers. “He is very sharp,takes his files back to prison and makes notes at night. He even tells lawyers what to argue in court,” says a lawyer.

Raja,in contrast,is mostly seen with his palms cradling his head. White shirt untucked,he looks around,smiles and talks freely. Of late,after Balwa is said to have chided him for not showing enough interest in the court papers,he has started lazily glancing at the files. But five minutes into the task and he puts away his glasses in his shirt pocket. “Raja ne itna bada ghotala kaise kar diya…he seems to know nothing,” says an amused lawyer.

His bureaucrats R K Chandolia and Siddharth Behura,who allegedly aided him and are now in Tihar with him,sit in opposite corners of the court. The duo have never exchanged a glance during the hearing so far. Chandolia is sometimes seen talking to Raja,Behura is preparing his defence by himself.

On the chair next to Raja is the latest entrant,the daughter of his boss,Kanimozhi. They didn’t exchange a word the day she arrived,amid rumours that the boss was dumping him for his daughter. That day they sat in different rows. Next day,she changed her seat and came to his ‘block’. They now talk,share smiles effortlessly. She meets visitors through the day. On her first day in prison,Karunanidhi’s writer-daughter was said to have been anxious about removing her nose-pin as required by the jail manual,saying she had worn it since she was 10. The nose-pin continues to glitter,though.

New titles adorn her table. Sometimes her husband G Aravindan brings them for her. Eduardo Galeano’s Mirrors is the latest. “A great book. You must read it,” he says,recommending the Uruguayan author. Raja is reading Without Fear: The Life And Trial of Bhagat Singh.

Kanimozhi is escorted,among others,by Karate Sarvanna. “I am expert in karate,kalaripayattu. My hand can impale your chest like a bullet,” he says. The bouncer-bodyguard with a thick gold chain on his right wrist,a gold watch on his left and gold rings on his fingers had red eyes the day her bail was rejected. Tears? No one dared ask.

The most visible book in the courtroom is the hardbound Criminal Manual Code. Along with copies of the CBI chargesheet and reams on the telecom policy,it is seen on every row. One can drop into the court for a free primer on criminal law. Telecom jargon—first-come-first-serve,cap on applications—and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code related to forgery and cheating are part of everyday lingo here. “How can they call someone under 88 (Section of CrPC) and then arrest him?”

Junior lawyers not connected with the case drop in too. “This is the mother of all trials. I am learning a lot,” a young woman advocate says,diligently taking notes in the crowded court. Anyone trying to reach the front benches has to wade through this swarm of people. At times,even the lead counsel is stranded at the back and he appeals to the judge to order mediapersons and others to let him in. No one moves,though.

When arguments reach crescendo and the air gets musty,people step outside—the adjoining CBI court,mostly vacant,is where people go for a break.

There is a warm camaraderie in the courtroom. Shahid Balwa’s family is usually here in full force—men,women and children,hugging,smiling. Raja’s wife turned up a couple of times,but after that,he has had few visitors.

The CBI has charged 14 people in the case so far,but not all of them have met each other before. But now,they are in it together. When news of the five corporate heads being denied bail trickled in from the Delhi High Court,Kanimozhi went up to their sobbing wives and consoled them. “Dukh sabko karib le ata hai,” says one of them.

With day-to-day hearings on for nearly two months and a realisation that the entire trial could take many more months,the relatives of the accused have learnt to manage their offices and businesses from the courtroom. Dozens of fingers operate Blackberries and iPads,prohibited inside the court.

Many of the accused,once high-flying corporates,are probably spending more time with their wives now—10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.—than they possibly ever did. The crowded courtroom doesn’t have enough chairs and the wives of the accused often sit on their husbands’ lap. “You are on an extended honeymoon,” an old man teases his son.

Judge O P Saini is soft-spoken and considerate. “Except for bail and acquittal,you can seek any relief,” he tells a defence lawyer who seeks an orthopaedic mattresses for his client inside Tihar.

The courtroom breaks for lunch around 1 p.m. The accused are taken to the lock-up next door and the relatives of the accused spread out kebabs,chicken rolls and cold coffee. Some of it finds its way into the lock-up. The Balwas rule the show here too. Two of their men are in Tihar—Shahid and his cousin Asif Balwa—besides their business partners Rajiv Agarwal (director of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables) and Vinod Goenka (MD of DB Realty). Relatives of Behura and the Reliance ADAG men—Hari Nair,Surendra Pipara and Gautam Doshi—maintain a low-profile.

Kanimozhi,who won praise from the judge for her “extremely dignified conduct in the court”,is usually the first to leave for her lock-up when the court breaks for lunch and is the first to come back to the courtroom after lunch.

Post-lunch sessions are quieter,as bail arguments are usually over. The rest of the day,the accused and their lawyers flip through 80,000 pages of the chargesheet,which the CBI had submitted to the court in seven trunks.

Kanimozhi’s son arrives with his father,usually after lunch. The child sits on his mother’s lap and they communicate in whispers.

There are new faces in the court almost every day. This week,it was Karim Morani and his family. Morani is an accused but is out on medical grounds. He has been visiting the court after it summoned him recently. The Moranis are organisers of Bollywood stage shows.

“Yeh aapki beti hai?” Usman,Shahid Balwa’s father,blesses Goenka’s daughter. It’s her first day in court,and she instantly bonds with Chandolia’s daughter.

There are the curious visitors too. An old man from Nangloi barges in to “have a view of Raja Sahab”. A man who calls himself a journalist from a UP town petitions that more people should be made accused in the case. A man who identifies himself as Sohail Hindustani sneaks in and clicks a picture of Raja,only to be thrown out. “Woh mera padosi raha hai. Uska haal-chaal puchne aaya tha,” he says later. Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy drops in,claiming to be in possession of a cache of evidence and hence wishes that the “CBI seeks his assistance in probe”.

Through all this,a CRPF jawan stands in attention—curiously,in the witness box adjoining the steno’s table. “Kuch to ho raha hai. Koi bada bawaal hai,” he says. He relaxes only when the judge calls it a day. It’s farewell time and hands wave and there are warm embraces all around. Goenka hugs Morani. Kanimozhi kisses her son. They all will come here again. Tomorrow.

The principal cast

A Raja was Telecom Minister when the 2G licences were issued during UPA-I. He was charged with entering into a conspiracy with his private secretary R K Chandolia and former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura to illegally provide licences to Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom. Sanjay Chandra,former MD of Unitech Wireless,and Shahid Balwa,promoter of Swan Telecom,are also charged with entering into a conspiracy with Raja.

Asif Balwa,Rajiv Agarwal,Vinod Goenka and Karim Morani charged with facilitating a Rs 200 crore transfer from DB Group Companies to the DMK-run Kalaignar TV through a route of shell companies as quid pro quo for obtaining licences for Swan Telecom. Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar also charged with accepting bribe money.

Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi,Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair accused of helping Swan Telecom operate as a front company of Anil Ambani-led Reliance.