The CBI on Wednesday told the 2G Court that accused A Raja, former Telecom Minister, had lied to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about his meeting with then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Deposing before Special Judge OP Saini, Chief Investigating Officer Vivek Priyadarshi said in late 2007 the GoM which was dealing with vacation of spectrum from Armed forces was being headed by Mukherjee. Raja, who met Mukherjee in this regard, wrongly claimed to the PM that he had got the External Affairs Minister's concurrence for allotment of 2G licences.
The CBI officer, who was being cross examined by Raja, said that they came to know this fact from the then Solicitor General GE Vahanvati, who was also present with Raja in the meeting with Mukherjee.
Priyadarshi said that the PM directed Raja not to allot telecom licences and the Finance Ministry also objected and asked DoT to stay the allotment. Raja's advocate Sushil Kumar objected to CBI officers "volunteering" to the court and alleged that he was parrying away from questions regarding the former Telecom Minister's meeting with PM and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Raja alleged that CBI did not investigate the details of his meeting with Singh and Chidambaram and was trying to implicate him wrongly in the case. Priyadarshi's deposition will continue on Monday.