Big setback for BJP, 2G verdict announced as all the accused are acquitted and freed.
This will give a big boost to BJP as this will also Hurt BJP in the 2019 elections as well.
On one occasion, the CBI prosecutor went to the extent of calling former Union telecom minister and prime accused A Raja a ‘consummate liar’, while Raja dubbed all the agencies as ‘blind men’ trying to describe an elephant by touching it.
Few court and political battles can match the sensation generated by the 2G case, grabbing headlines after a CAG report in November 2010 pegged the notional loss to government at Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Many newspapers, short on headline space, simply printed the sum, Rs 1,76,00,00,000,000.
Of course, the chargesheet filed by CBI brought the loss down to Rs 30,000-odd crore.
After the initial sensation, the court battle revolved around hard evidence and careful depositions by suspects and witnesses. So much so that at one point, when the prosecutor said god would help win the case, DMK’s Raja retorted that he trusted evidence and documents over god. Of course, it did help underline his party’s atheist roots.
There are three cases before special judge Saini — two that were registered by the CBI and one by the ED.
CBI’s first case is the main 2G suit where Raja figures prominently, along with party MP Kanimozhi. Arguing his own case, and even getting into the ‘box’ to be cross-examined continuously for nearly a fortnight, Raja had specific issues to counter — one, he advanced the cut-off date for receiving applications from October 10, 2007 to October 1, 2007, thereby eliminating 408 out of the 575 applicants from the race.
Two, violation of the first-come-first-served policy; three, eligibility of various companies that did not have any prior experience, and four, non-revision of entry fee for new operators.
Raja stunned the court on more than one occasion by repeating that everyone who mattered, including then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was aware of the key decisions and that it was Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that had eliminated the ‘experience’ clause besides making it clear that any firm that could deposit Rs 1,650 crore would be eligible to bid for spectrum.
“Why would the minister involve outsiders such as the prime minister, the law minister, finance minister, external affairs minister and the solicitor-general of India in the decision-making process if there were a conspiracy?” Raja asked in the special court.
An unfazed CBI, however, said he was a consummate liar and the main conspirator who had colluded with inexperienced companies to grant them out-ofturn 2G spectrum licences against kickbacks.
The charges against Raja, if proved, can fetch him life imprisonment. The ED treated a Rs 200-crore transaction between Kalaignar TV and DB Realty as ‘proceeds of crime’, and said it was slush money routed through a circuitous route — the money originated from Dynamix Realty, then went to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd, before finally reaching Kalaignar TV.
Senior counsel R Shanmugasundaram, who defended Kanimozhi, says, “What had been projected by the CBI and ED were not borne out by evidence.
“The 2G case is a battle between GSM and CDMA operators — COAI vs AUSPI. Others suffered collateral damage.”
COAI is the cellular operators association of India while AUSPI is the association of unified telecom service providers of India. Issues like the questioning of Dayalu Ammal, the ailing wife of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, at her home and the recovery of original share subscription agreement (SSA) from Cineyug premises were turning points in favour of the accused in the special court, he said.
