By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed the bail application of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in 2G spectrum case, saying that being a “public servant, he was under a higher degree of probity and duty as holder of public trust”.
Justice V.K. Shali, pronouncing the order, said: “I do not agree with Behura’s counsel that simply on the ground of parity either of the apex court or that of the order passed by this court, the petitioner deserves to be extended the benefit of bail automatically.”
“If that be the intention of the apex court, then the apex court would have made an observation in this regard and this court would have had no difficulty in granting bail to the present petitioner,” observed the court, adding it, therefore, felt that the petitioner is not entitled to bail merely on the principle of parity.
Former communications minister A. Raja, along with his former private secretary R.K. Chandolia and Behura, were arrested Feb 2 for allegedly abusing their official position and manipulating the tendering process to benefit certain telecom companies in getting licences for scarce radiowaves.
The three face charges of criminal breach of trust by public servants under the Indian Penal Code which carries a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term which may extend up to 10 years with penalty.
“No doubt, the present petitioner (Behura), along with 16 others, has been charged in common criminal conspiracy to commit the offence of breach of trust, cheating, forging and document and using forged document as genuine, etc, but Behura has been separately and substantively charged along with Raja for offence under section 409 for breach of trust by a ‘public servant’ read with section 120B and alternatively under section 420 for cheating read with section 120B IPC along with principal accused (Raja),” the court said.
Now only Raja and Behura of the 14 people, who were arrested by the CBI in the corruption scandal that rocked the nation, remain in jail pending trial.
Dismissing Behura’s bail plea, the judge said: “I feel that Behura being a ‘public servant’ was under a higher degree of probity and duty as he was holder of public trust and therefore, he was expected to discharge his duties with a more sense of responsibility, transparency and integrity.”
The court in its 35-page order observed that if Raja can be said to be kingpin or a pivot of the alleged conspiracy to commit the offence of breach of trust and cheating, then certainly the role of Behura and Chandolia, the other co-accused, has been that of a propeller of giving effect to the said idea of committing the offence of breach of trust or cheating os far as the allocation of 2G spectrum or Unified Access Services is concerned.
“Prima facie, there is ample evidence, in this regard, that the three persons namely Raja, Behura and Chandolia have been the core of the conspiracy in implementation of the policy of first come and first basis in a distorted manner so as to cause benefit to specific parties,” said the court.
The court also observed that Behura may not have gained out of the entire transaction but he has certainly caused a wrongful loss to the public exchequer and if one goes by the allegation in the charges, then this wrongful loss to the exchequer is allegedly to the tune of Rs.7,105 crore though that figure is also debatable regarding the actual loss having suffered by the exchequer.
The special court, trying the scam, had Nov 29, granted bail to Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, citing the “principle of parity” after the apex court Nov 23 granted bail to Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Group’s executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surendra Pipara.
The same court Nov 28, granted bail to DMK MP Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, Cineyug Films’ Karim Morani and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd. directors Rajiv B. Aggarwal and Asif Balwa.