2G spectrum case: Centre names Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as special public prosecutor

New Delhi: The central government has named Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as the Special Public Prosecutor for the 2G spectrum scam case to file an appeal against the acquittal of the accused by a trial court in December last year.

A government order said Mehta has been named to conduct "prosecution appeals/revisions or other proceedings arising out of the cases related to 2G spectrum investigated by the CBI.

On 21 December last year, a special CBI court acquitted all the accused in the 2G scam, including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi.

File image of Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta. Image courtesy: Amity University

After the judgement, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it would appeal in the High Court against the acquittal.

"We said on the day of the judgement that we will appeal in the higher courts. And a call will be taken soon," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told IANS.

This is not the first time that the CBI has replaced prosecutors in the case. Senior Prosecutor KK Goel argued the case in its initial days but he was replaced by AK Singh.

Singh was dropped after he was allegedly heard in a telephonic conversation advising one of the accused how to fight the case. Goel then returned. The appointment of Special Public Prosecutor UU Lalit as a judge of the Supreme Court made way for Senior advocate Anand Grover to replace him in September 2014.

Mehta has now replaced Grover.

The alleged scandal rocked the UPA government led by then prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2011, majorly costing the Congress-led alliance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The so-called scam hit the headlines after the Comptroller and Auditor General led by Vinod Rai in an audit report alleged that Raja sold spectrum and telecom licenses to private firms at throwaway prices, causing a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.