Raja's jail anniversary: After year in Tihar, 'cool' facade withers

New Delhi: 16 February 2011. It was Andimuthu Raja’s last day in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody. He had been arrested 14 days before on 2 February in connection with his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam. On the eve of his shift to judicial custody in Tihar jail, a senior CBI official asked Raja if he, like other VIP undertrials, would seek to shift to a hospital under some medical pretext or the other. Raja said: “No. I will never like to lose public sympathy. I am a politician.’’ That statement explains how Raja has been handling his incarceration and ignominy. Today, a year later, Raja has looked the law in the face and refused to blink. Unlike other undertrial politicians, he never opted for hospitalisation on medical grounds. He continues to smile and pretend everything’s normal, especially when a horde of camerapersons chases him around the courtroom at Delhi’s Patiala House during his ongoing trial. Even under the harshest media glare, Raja plays his cards well by trying to pose as a political victim. But for his adversaries, he has nothing but harsh words and contempt. [caption id=“attachment_201039” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“I will never like to lose public sympathy. I am a politician. AFP”]  [/caption] He called Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai an “illiterate” who didn’t know anything about law. He said the CBI’s chargesheet against him was nonsense. And he declared that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram knew all about his allocation of 2G spectrum to 122 companies. He even promised that he would drag the PM to the witness box, if the trial in the 2G scam went against him. So what is Raja’s game? An astute politician, Raja’s strategy is about posing as the target of political vendetta. He likes to remind people that there are no criminal charges against him. But he knows that the CBI has thrown the whole book at him. “They have charged me with everything,” Raja told his wife in Tamil during hearings scheduled to read out the charges against him. “What is there… We have to fight, fight, fight,’’ he told another well-wisher with a smile. He looked the least bit troubled by charges of “criminal breach of trust” which may result in a life term for him if found guilty. Another political move of Raja is his refusal to seek bail when Kanimozhi, several Reliance directors and other accused sought it. Raja’s move appears self-righteous, but it is not so. He could be waiting for the outcome of his former Telecom Secretary Sidhartha Behura’s bail plea. Raja and Behura will sink or swim together. A year after spending time in jail, it seems likely that Raja will get bail if Behura gets it. So Behura is the test case for him and he could be waiting for his chance. The spotlight in the 2G scam, however, remains on Raja, but he has ensured that the media focuses on side issues and not his criminality. For instance, he moved an application in court refusing to cross-examine CBI witnesses on grounds that the CBI was still investigating the case. The CBI found it absurd, considering that Raja is accused No 1 in the scam. Raja’s theatrical tricks stole some moments for him. For example, when he was spotted on more than one occasion to be dozing off during court proceedings, it evoked some sympathy among observers. The obvious question in people’s minds: He must be tired. Why is he in jail, when other co-accused are out on bail? Such comments are common in the courtroom during the trial. Clearly, Raja is playing to the limited gallery in court. Raja always tries to maintain an image of being cool and calm. Only once did his emotions betray him, when his former aide A Achary appeared as a CBI witness and gave damning evidence against Raja. Raja had had a 10-year association with Achary and the latter bared many facts about Raja. Raja never once left the side of his lawyer Sushil Kumar, watching and listening keenly to Achary and constantly advising his lawyer during the course of his cross-examination. One could read from Raja’s face that he felt betrayed, as he did not look even once into the eyes of Achary. Achary did try to neutralise his diatribe against Raja by announcing in court that “deep in my heart, Raja is like an elder brother to me… I used to have lunch and breakfast at his house occasionally and he was very protective of me, more so, when I was a bachelor.” Even then Raja did not look at Achary even once. Achary, who was the CBI’s star witness, broke down in front of Raja’s lawyer Sushil Kumar after his cross-examination. “Please ask him (Raja) to at least look at me once,” he pleaded with Sushil Kumar, but Raja looked away. Reality, however, has cast its shadow on Raja’s future for some time now. He himself is a lawyer and used to practice in local courts at Chennai. He sometimes argues his own case. He has begun to realise that the evidence already on paper does not support his case of total innocence in spectrum allocations in 2008. All this is taking a toll. He is not chirpy anymore — unlike his earlier days in Tihar. Jail authorities say that his initial three months were like a picnic for Raja. He used to hobnob with fellow prisoners and had lots of visitors. He continues to get home food. But as he completes a year, Raja realises that he may have to stay in the cooler for some more time.