A week after the arrest of Swan Telecom managing director Shahid Usman Balwa,the CBI today questioned Sanjay Chandra,managing director of real estate firm Unitech,in connection with the probe into the 2G scam. Officials of the Tata Groups real estate arm Tata Realty and Infrastructure and two other telecom companies Loop Telecom and S-Tel were also called in. Balwas partner in DB Realty,Vinod Goenka,was questioned. Sanjay Chandra and the officials of the other firms were brought face-to-face with former telecom minister A Raja today,and confronted with documents seized during the CBIs raids last year,officials said. The agency wants to complete the questioning of firms who allegedly paid kickbacks to Raja before the former ministers remand ends on Thursday. Swan and Unitech are reported to have benefited from the allocation of spectrum licences during Rajas tenure. Unitech got licences for 22 circles for Rs 1,658 crore,following which Chandra allegedly sold 60 per cent of the companys shares to Norway-based Telenor for Rs 6,100 crore. Swan acquired the licences for Rs 1,537 crore,after which it allegedly sold 45 per cent of its stake to Dubai-based Etisalat for Rs 4,200 crore. Tata Realty is alleged to have given a Rs 1,700-crore unsecured loan to Unitech,which the latter subsequently returned. Senior Tata Realty officials Sanjay Ubale and Kishore Saletore were asked about the funding pattern of Tata Teleservices,the Tata Groups flagship telecom company. Loop Telecom CEO Sandip Basu was the first to be called in. Loop was awarded licences for 21 circles during Rajas first stint as telecom minister. From S-Tel,which got licences in five circles,CFO Arun Mandhana and Chief Regulatory Officer Rajeev Sikka were questioned. In its remand application filed in court yesterday,CBI had claimed that another telecom company besides Swan had channelled funds to the Karunanidhi family-controlled Kalaignar TV. The companies have been asked to furnish documents related to the grant of licences, CBI spokesperson Binita Thakur said. Chandra released a statement saying Unitech has been fully cooperating with the investigating agency. He said all the nine companies who received licences are being questioned and it is not specific to any one company. A Tata Realty spokesperson said,Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited has not received any summons issued by CBI. They had sought some clarifications,which have been provided.
