The six-year-long daily-basis trial in the 2G scam case ended on Wednesday. Indicating the expected delivery of Judgment around mid-July, Special Judge OP Saini fixed July 5 for seeking clarifications, if any. The 2G Court will deliver the judgment in three cases, namely main case of CBI and ED’s Rs 210 crore money trail involving former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK leader Kanimozhi and forgery and perjury by the Essar Group.
As per the Supreme Court’s order, the 2G Special Court was created in February 2011 and the trial process started on a daily basis to avoid inordinate delays.
In the first case filed by CBI, those facing trial, besides Raja and Kanimozhi, are former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary RK 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 — 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 accused in the case.
Besides these 14, three telecom firms — Swan Telecom Pvt ltd (STPl), Reliance Telecom ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) ltd — are also facing trial in the case. The court has recorded the statements of 154 CBI witnesses, including Reliance ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani and former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, running into over 4,400 pages in the case. The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.
The ED, in its case, had filed a charge sheet in April 2014 against 19 people, including Raja, Kanimozhi, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv Aggarwal, Karim Morani and Sharad Kumar in connection with a money laundering case relating to the scam. In its charge sheet, ED also named DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal as accused in the case in which it alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by STPl promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.
In the third CBI case, those who face trial are Essar Group promoters Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia, loop Telecom promoters, Kiran Khaitan, her husband IP Khaitan and Essar Group Director (Strategy and Planning) Vikash Saraf. Three firms, loop Telecom ltd, loop Mobile India ltd and Essar Tele Holding ltd (ETHl), are also chargesheeted. Vivek Priyadarshi and Rajeshwar Singh are the Investigating Officers of CBI and ED respectively in these high profile cases.