2G spectrum scam case verdict: Huge relief for UPA as special court acquits A Raja, Kanimozhi

In a huge relief for the Congress and DMK, former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi were on Thursday acquitted by a special court in the 2G spectrum scam case. Raja and Kanimozhi were among 19 accused acquitted by the court. Others acquitted in the case are 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 and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair. [caption id=“attachment_4269399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kanimozhi and A Raja. Agencies[/caption] Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani have also been acquitted in the case. Besides them, three telecom firms — Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd — were also accused and acquitted in the case. Special CBI Judge OP Saini pronounced the judgement in the 2G scam which had rocked the UPA government. Saini decided the fate of the accused by saying, “I have absolutely no hesitation in holding that prosecution has miserably failed to prove any of the charges against any of the accused”. A number of supporters of DMK leaders Raja and Kanimozhi, who were anxiously waiting outside the jam-packed court room, broke into loud cheers as soon as the verdict was pronounced. Besides the accused and their advocates, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and few journalists managed to get inside the court room. The judge first pronounced the judgement in the cases lodged by the CBI and the ED against Raja and others. After these accused vacated the court room, the promoters of Essar Group and Loop Telecom along with one other accused who were facing trial in the case arising out of the 2G spectrum scam probe entered the court room after which the judge pronounced a separate order. Family members of the accused were also present in the court. DMK supporters were seen bursting fire crackers outside the court complex and showered Raja and Kanimozhi with flowers as soon as they stepped out of court. In its chargesheet filed in April 2011 against Raja and others, the CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on 2 February, 2012. All the accused facing trial in these cases had denied allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED. The court had in 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, using as genuine fake documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe. The verdict on Thursday created a political storm as politicians from both the ruling and opposing parties reacted strongly to the verdict. “I would love to thank everyone who stood by me…I think justice has prevailed. Finally, our innocence has been proved. I’m sure this will enthuse the DMK cadre,” said Kanimozhi after the verdict. “We welcome the verdict. We are very happy with the court’s decision,” said Raja. “My position and my prime minister (Singh)’s position has been vindicated. It was a scam by Vinod Rai. Even the online trolls should apologise because they still hurl insults at me,” said Congress leader Kapil Sibal. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lashed out at the Congress. “Congress party leaders are treating this judgment as some kind of badge of honour and a certification that the 2G policy was an honest policy. In 2007 and 2008, (telecom) spectrum was being given not by an auction, not by a market mechanism, but on the basis of a price discovery that was made in 2001,” he said. With inputs from PTI Follow live updates here