2G Trial: CBI witness stays firm under unrelenting defence attack

After eight days of intense cross-examination of Aseervatham Achary, who has named everyone from former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi to Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra in connection with the 2G spectrum case, the formidable defence team hasn’t managed to get under the skin of the ‘mighty witness’. The former additional private secretary to Raja began his deposition before the Special CBI court on December 19. (The court remained closed between December 24 and January 1). [caption id=“attachment_172531” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”] [/caption] He has so far been cross-examined by senior lawyers Ram Jethmalani, who is the defence lawyer for Kanimozhi; Sushil Kumar, the lawyer for Raja; RN Mittal for Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa; RS Cheema for Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and lawyers SP Minocha for former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and Vijay Aggarwal for former private secretary to Raja, RK Chandolia. Special CBI judge OP Saini seemed to be losing his patience today with the defence’s long-winded cross-examination. “Please don’t go overboard,” was the judge’s warning to one of the defence lawyers. The witness too seemed to be at a loss to grasp the relevance of defence’s line of questioning and, on one occasion, said as much. In response to a series of questions on whether or not he had left his mobile phone in his car, he said, “I have come here to depose on the 2G case.” However, the day’s cross-examination, which ended with Achary telling the court that a flat in Dwarka was owned by his sister-in-law, seemed to bring some amount of excitement to the defence team. Raja, who has been closely watching the proceedings, seemed thrilled by the disclosure. “My mother-in-law is Subbalakshmi and the owner of the flat in Dwarka, who is also named Subbalakshmi, are different ladies. The owner of the house is the daughter of my mother-in-law, that is, my wife’s sister. It is wrong to suggest that Dwarka property is my benami property in the name of my sister-in-law.” This is second time during Achary’s cross-examination that the question of who owns the flat in Dwarka has come up. On December 22, while being cross-examined by Raja’s lawyer, Achary had told the court that he had stayed in the Dwarka flat for two years and four months before shifting to his current residence. “I was not the owner of the flat in Dwarka. The Dwarka flat is owned by Mrs Changalwala Subbalakshmi…It is incorrect to suggest that the Dwarka flat was purchased in the name of my mother-in-law on the basis of power of attorney,” Achary had told the court on December 22. Achary will tomorrow face leading criminal lawyer Majid Memon, who is defending DB Realty’s Vinod Goenka. Going by Memon’s cross-examination of Reliance ADAG president A N Sethuraman (Read 2G: CBI ignored my protest against statement: Sethuraman), it will be a tough day for Achary in the witness box tomorrow.