2G scam: Court to begin hearing final arguments on 10 November

New Delhi: A special court today fixed 10 November for commencing final arguments in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others, including three firms, are facing trial. Special CBI Judge OP Saini, who is exclusively dealing with the 2G scam cases, posted the matter for 10 November after concluding the recording of the statements of defence witnesses in the case. [caption id=“attachment_1705925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “Put up on 10 November, as before that case titled CBI vs Ravikant Ruia and others and the PMLA case are listed for defence evidence and arguments on charges respectively,” the judge said. However, the court today fixed for tomorrow the CBI’s plea seeking its permission to summon some persons as prosecution witnesses, including Enforcement Directorate (ED) Deputy Director Rajeshwar Singh, in connection with the case. The CBI had said these persons were required to be examined as witnesses in the ongoing trial as some new facts have emerged in the probe conducted by the ED which had filed a separate charge sheet against 19 accused in a 2G scam-related money laundering case. The court has recorded statements of 153 prosecution witnesses while the accused have examined 29 witnesses in their defence. The court has also disposed of around 1150 applications filed by the accused as well as the CBI. It has recorded statements of CBI witnesses, including Reliance ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani and former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, running into over 4,400 pages in the case involving Raja and 16 others. In the separate case against promoters of Essar Group, Loop Telecom and others, the court is now recording defence evidence. The stage for the trial in the case involving Raja and 16 others, which had started on November 11, 2011, was set after the court had framed charges against the 17 accused named in the first two charge sheets. Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra, three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair — are facing trial in the case. Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV Director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case. Besides these 14 accused persons, three telecom firms — Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd — are also facing trial in the case. They have been made accused in the first two CBI charge sheets filed on 2 and 25 April, 2011 respectively. The court had on 22 October, 2011 framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe. The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment. PTI