Swamy moves SC against trial court order on Chidambaram

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Thursday moved the Supreme Court to challenge the trial court order which had held that Home Minister P Chidmbaram did not indulge in any criminal conspiracy in the 2G case and refused to make him an accused in it.

Swamy has alleged that Chidambaram as culpable as former telecom minister A Raja as he also had a role in deciding the spectrum pricing and allowing telecom companies to off-load shares to foreign firms.

He had said that the evidence brought before the trial court was sufficient to show that Chidambaram, the then finance minister, had prima facie committed offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other criminal laws.

Swamy's plea was rejected on February 4 by the Special Central Bureau of Investigation Court trying the 2G case, which had said Chidambaram did not indulge in any criminal conspiracy or derive any pecuniary advantage in the decisions taken with Raja.

The trail court had said that Chidambaram, the finance minister at the time of controversial allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008, was only party to two decisions -- keeping spectrum prices at 2001 level and dilution of equity by two companies -- which was "not per se criminal".

The Supreme Court had on February 2 left it to the special court to decide the plea to try Chidambaram in the case.

The trial court had rejected the private criminal complaint filed by Swamy, saying it was without any merit.

It said Swamy could not bring evidence on record to show that Chidambaram was acting with a "corrupt" and "illegal" motive and the case against him was distinguishable from those of the other accused, who are facing trial in the 2G case.