HC reserves order on executives bail petition

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its order on the bail pleas of five corporate executives arrested for their alleged complicity in 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its order on the bail pleas of five corporate executives arrested for their alleged complicity in 2G spectrum allocation scam,also naming former telecom minister A Raja and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhis daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi as accused. Justice Ajit Bharihoke reserved his order on the pleas after CBIs Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit and the counsel for the corporate executives concluded their arguments.

The five accused are Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom,Sanjay Chandra of Unitech and three senior officials of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) Gautam Doshi,Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara. The CBI argued its case on Monday as the defence counsel for the accused had already concluded their arguments.

Opposing the executives bail pleas,Lalit contended that the corporate bodies and individuals were direct beneficiaries of the entire spectrum deal and that they were involved in a conspiracy,along with Raja,to obtain benefits from the grant of spectrum licences. He said the former minister had advanced the cut-off date for submitting application for spectrum allocation and altered the licencing policy to favour Swan Telecom and Unitech Ltd. Lalit said some firms were floated only to transfer the money that changed hands following grant of spectrum licences to beneficiary telecom firms and they were closed once their purposes were served.

The corporates were part of a conspiracy where huge amount of money was transacted, said Lalit.

He said that since the CBI has filed the second chargesheet,they should not be given bail at this juncture. The five were arrested after a CBI court dismissed their bail pleas made soon after the court summons.

CBI against court-monitoring

The CBI Monday opposed the plea of DB Realty director Shahid Usman Balwa and two other accused in the 2G spectrum scam that the probe should be monitored by the Special CBI Court.The CBI,in its reply filed before Special Judge O P Saini,said there was sufficient material to establish the allegations and that the plea was infructuous.