New Delhi, Nov 30: Former Telecom Minister A Raja and two former rpt former bureaucrats R K Chandolia and Siddharth Behura were the “core sector” of conspiracy and stand on a “different footing” from those granted bail in 2G spectrum allocation scam case, CBI today told a Delhi court.
CBI's stand against the trio came out when it was opposing the bail plea of Chandolia, who was Raja's private secretary when the alleged offence in 2G spectrum allocation was committed.
“The core sector of conspiracy comprises these three gentlemen (Raja, Behura and Chandolia) and they fall in the same category which is different from others who are granted bail,” Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit submitted before designated CBI Judge O P Saini.
“These three gentlemen (Raja, Behura and Chandolia) are on a different footing....It will be unrealistic to draw a parity with those released on bail,” Lalit said.
Opposing Chandolia's bail plea, Lalit said he had “modified and altered” the cut-off dates for applying for the Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) which benefited the private companies.
“His (Chandolia) role is in having modified and altered the cut-off date, thus benefiting the private companies. He is referred to as the key person as far as altering the cut-off date and shuffling the priority of applicants is concerned.
“His role is also in designing the manner in which letter of intents (LoIs) was being distributed,” Lalit said.
The court has reserved its order for tomorrow on the bail plea of Chandolia after hearing arguments of CBI as well as the defence counsel.
Lalit opposed the submissions by Chandolia's counsel Vijay Aggarwal that he should be freed on bail on the ground of parity saying differentiation on the basis of a being public servant cannot be drawn as DMK MP Kanimozhi was also granted bail by the High Court in the case.
He said charges against Kanimozhi are in relation to routing of Rs 200 crores from DB Group to DMK-run Kalaignar TV whereas “the action committed by these three persons (Raja, Behura and Chandolia) were in the capacity of public servant.”
Aggarwal, however, countered Lalit by saying the agency is indulging in “hair splitting” of the Supreme Court and High Court's order granting bail to ten accused in the case.
“CBI missed one thing from the High Court's bail order and what my friend (Lalit) has done is only hair splitting of the two orders. The High Court had warned against dissecting the Supreme Court's order and they (CBI) are doing the same thing,” Aggarwal said.
He said even the apex court has “not dissected the case and granted bail not to individual accused but in 2G case.”
He said his client has been in jail for over ten months but the alleged beneficiaries of the case have been granted bail.
“The alleged beneficiaries are getting bail whereas I am still inside the jail. How strange this is? I am the unequal among the equals,” he said.
He said the alleged loss has been caused by the two companies Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, whose officials are out on bail, whereas charges against him is only for facilitating the offence but still Chandolia is in custody.
