After ED, CBI too opposes acquittal of A Raja and others

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday moved the Delhi high court challenging a special court order acquitting former telecom minister A Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. 

The matter was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. 

The court allowed it to be listed for hearing on Wednesday. 

The Enforcement Directorate had on Monday moved the high court against acquittal of Raja, Kanimozhi and others in a money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam. 

The special court had on December 21 last year acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED. 

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd., film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Director of Kalaignar TV Sharad Kumar in the ED case. 

The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV. 

On the same day, December 21, the trial court had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others, including former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd. MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case. 

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on February 2, 2012. 

Special Judge O P Saini had held that the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove the charges. 

The special court, which was set up on March 14, 2011, for hearing 2G cases exclusively, had also acquitted Essar group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe.           

The first case, prosecuted by the CBI, had 17 accused, while the second matter, pursued by the ED, had 19 accused. The third one had eight accused including Essar promoters. 

In the CBI case, Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others were tried under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, using as genuine fake documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.