New Delhi, Dec 21: Former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi were today acquitted by a special court in the 2G spectrum scam case. Fifteen other accused in the case and three companies were also acquitted. Others acquitted in the case are former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K 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.
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 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 2G scam case.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini pronounced the judgement in the 2G scam which had rocked the UPA government. "I have absolutely no hesitation in holding that prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any accused," the CBI Judge said today.
2011 CHARGESHEET
In its charge sheet 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 February 2, 2012. All the accused facing trial in these cases had denied allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. 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. [ALSO READ: Kanimozhi, four other accused in 2G spectrum case get bail]
The prosecution examined 153 witnesses, including the chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani and corporate lobbyist Nira Radia. The Ambani couple had turned hostile. The evidence from 29 defence witnesses was also recorded by the court.
DMK CELEBRATES
Among the first to react was DMK's senior leader Duraimurugan. "This case was a politically motivated one. They want to spoil the image of DMK... After a long battle, we have won the case," he said. DMK leader MK Stalin said: "Special Court judgement in 2G spectrum allocation case a “historic verdict”. [Justice delivered, says DMK leader Kanimozhi on 2G verdict]
Former Telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja today hailed the verdict in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which he was acquitted by a special court. “I will read the judgement and tell. You see everybody is happy,” Raja told reporters after coming out of the court room. He was surrounded by party workers who were rejoicing his acquittal.
SWAMY REACTION
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, on whose PIL CBI probe was ordered in 2G case, said today the Government should appeal in high court against acquittals.
CBI, ED REACTIONS
A CBI spokesperson reacting to the 2G verdict said: "We are yet to receive complete judgement. We will study it, take legal opinion and decide future action." According to Agency sources, the Enforcement Directorate will appeal against the special court verdict on 2G spectrum allocation.
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