Above: (Left) MK Kanimozhi and A Raja during the trial at Patiala House Court on Thursday (December 21). Photo: UNI
The following were the events that happened as Special CBI court judge OP Saini acquitted all 19 accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam on Thursday (December 21).
The judge came into the courtroom at 10.25 am and asked for the files. When the judge asked if all accused were in court, the accused all raised their hands and let him know that they were.
The judge came to the point immediately, informing that “the investigating agency (CBI) could not prove the charges, so the court acquits all the accused”.
Standing in front of the judge (slightly to the left) was the main accused A Raja and MK Kanimozhi beside him. The rest of the accused were standing behind them.
Immediately after the verdict, the crowd in the court broke out in applause as Kanimozhi looked a bit impatient.
Raja looked very happy. Outside the courtroom Raja’s supporters lifted him on their shoulders.
The court ruled in three cases. All accused were acquitted in all three cases. Two of these cases were of the CBI and the other was of the Enforcement Directorate. In the first case of the CBI, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Raja’s former personal secretary as well as Raja and Kanimozhi were the accused. Besides, Swan Telecom promoters, Managing Director of Unitech, three senior executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group and directors of Kalaignar TV are also accused.
The court had fixed the charges against the three on October 2011. CBI had filed charge sheet against Raja and other accused in April 2011. The CBI had alleged that the allocation of 122 licenses had caused a loss of Rs 30,984 crore, which was cancelled by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012. The court recorded statements of 154 CBI witnesses in which Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani, Nira Radia’s name is included.
In this case, the accused could have been sentenced to prison from six months to life. In the second case of the CBI, Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia, promoter of Loop Telecom Kiran Khaitan, her husband IP Khaitan and director of Essar Group (Strategy and Planning) are accused in the chargesheet. CBI chargesheets include Loop Telecom Limited, Loop Mobile India Limited and Essar Tele Holding Limited.
The third charge sheet was filed by the Enforcement Directorate against 19 accused in April 2014. The chargesheet includes the names of A Raja, Kanimozhi, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv Agarwal, Kareem Morani and Sharad Kumar, in the case of money laundering. The charge sheet also included DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal.
The court acquitted all and said that the investigating agencies had failed to prove their allegations.
—India Legal Bureau