New Delhi: A special CBI court in Delhi is likely to frame charges on Saturday against 17 people accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi.
Special Judge OP Saini will decide whether the accused will be charged under criminal breach of trust or not. Under criminal breach of trust charge, an accused if convicted, can be given a life sentence.
The CBI filed its first chargesheet seven months ago, in which it called Raja the mastermind. He has been in jail since his arrest on February 2. The CBI also named some of the biggest corporate executives and companies in the country.
The others accused in the scam include former Telecom Ministry officials, Anil Ambani owned ADAG group officials, Kalaignar TV’S Sharad Kumar, Shahid Balwa of Swan Telecom, Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka.
The 17 accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case are: A Raja, Siddharth Behura, RK Chandolia, Gautam Doshi, Surrendra Pipara, Hari Nair, Sanjay Chandra, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Sharat Kumar, Kanimozhi, Rajiv Agarwal, Asif Balwa, Karim Morani, Reliance Telecommunication, Unitech Wireless Pvt Ltd (Tamil Nadu) and Swan Telecom.
Raja has been charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery, accepting illegal gratification and criminal breach of public trust. If he’s convicted of these charges, he will face a life term. Kanimozhi has been charged with accepting bribe, abetting a public servant for receiving illegal gratification and abetting a public servant in criminal breach of public trust. She, too, could spend a life term in jail if found guilty under these charges.
The CBI has also charged Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Sanjay Chandra, Gautam Doshi among others of them abetment to cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and abetting a public servant in criminal breach of public trust. These charges also carry a life term.
Kanimozhi’s father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi arrived in Delhi on Friday and is likely to meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday.
Kanimozhi has been lodged in jail for almost six months and has been denied bail. The court will resume hearing on the bail applications of various accused, including that of Kanimozhi, from October 24.
The Special Court will also decide the charges against the three companies named by the CBI – Reliance Telecommunication, Unitech Wireless Pvt Ltd (Tamil Nadu) and Swan Telecom, which is now called DB Etisalat. The companies can be slapped with a steep fine if the charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating are proved.
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