By IANS,
New Delhi : While framing charges against all the 14 arrested accused in the 2G spectrum case, a special court here Saturday said all of them knew each other prior to the conspiracy.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini found that some of the accused named in the scam were known to each since childhood days and some knew each other prior to the grant of licences.
All the 14 individuals accused in the case are in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail.
The court formally charged former communications minister A. Raja, 10 months after his arrest, for criminal breach of trust, bribery, forgery and cheating in the controversial allocation of mobile phone spectrum. The other 16 accused, including three companies, were also charged for similar charges.
The court said that all the 14 arrested individuals were known to each other and it was contrary to record to say that the accused were wholly unknown to each other and, as such, were not capable of entering into any conspiracy.
“Even otherwise, it is not necessary that all conspirators should know each other,” said the court.
Along with Raja, DMK leader and MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi was also charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. If convicted, while Raja could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, Kanimozhi could also face prison term.
“I have already extracted evidence against each accused as to how Asif Balwa and Rajeev B. Agarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd. along with Cineyug Film’s Karim Morani helped in transferring Rs.200 crore to Kalaignar TV of Sharad Kumar and Kanimozhi,” the court observed in its 456-page charge order.
“The transaction was done through proper bank channels but was without any contemporaneous documentation. The transfer of this huge amount in such a systematic and calculated manner indicates that they were acting in pursuance to the conspiracy,” the judge said.
Identical charges were also framed against Raja’s former aide R.K. Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura. The case, entrusted to the premier probe agency and involving award of scarce airwaves to new telecom players in a booming industry in 2007-08, went on to be known commonly as the 2G (second-generation spectrum allocation) case.