CBI questions Niira Radia over tapped phone conversations

New Delhi: Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia has been questioned by CBI in connection with the ongoing probe related to her tapped telephone conversation with industrialists and others. CBI sources said Radia was examined for two days during the last week in connection with four preliminary inquiries registered by the agency against her and others with regards to the 14 issues identified by Supreme Court from her tapped conversations. [caption id=“attachment_1269383” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Niira Radia. PTI[/caption] The SMS sent seeking comments of Radia on the development remained unanswered. The agency has named Radia in the preliminary inquiry relating to her conversation with Pradip Baijal, ex-chief of TRAI, allegedly pertaining to his appointment as Chairman of Pipeline Advisory Committee to allegedly favour Reliance Industries. The agency has named Baijal and Radia in the inquiry, they said. Former TRAI chairman Baijal has refuted the allegations. “If there is an investigation, I will co-operate,” he had said. The sources said a PE against Radia, unknown officials of her company Vaishnavi and unknown officials of BHEL has also been registered in connection with the alleged payment of commission for clearing bills from the public sector undertaking. A PE has also been started in connection with alleged working of touts and middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector against Radia, Ramesh Nambiar, a former Air India official, Deepak Talwar and unknown officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation. Radia has also been named in the PE related to alleged market manipulation and hammering stocks of Unitech. “We also contemplated to seek a probe into this matter by the market regulator and the investigation agencies, but could not take any action based on suspicion. We are thankful to the honourable court for ordering inquiry into this matter now which caused a great monetary as well as reputation loss to us,” Unitech had said in a statement. A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi had identified 23 issues which were framed by an apex court-appointed team on the analysis of the tapped conversations of Radia with bureaucrats, politicians, corporate tycoons and scribes. It then ordered a CBI probe into 14 issues. The next hearing has been scheduled on 16 December when the agency is likely to apprise the court about the developments in the enquiries. PTI