CBI court sends Raja, aides to 5-day custody (Third Lead)

NEW DELHI - Former communications minister A. Raja and his two aides were sent to CBI custody for five days by a special court here Thursday a day after their arrest over the allocation of airwaves for 2G phone services that the probe agency said caused a loss of Rs.22,000 crore to the national exchequer.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini allowed the sustained interrogation plea of the investigating agency and said: “Considering the nature of the allegations, seriousness and gravity of offences, there is consequent need of interrogation.”

Along with Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddarth Behura and Raja’s former personal secretary R.K. Chandolia, were also remanded in CBI custody. They will be kept at the CBI headquarters here.

The unperturbed 47-year-old DMK MP, wearing his trademark grey safari suit, greeted the judge with folded hands when his name was called to mark his presence in the case.

The court took note of CBI counsel Akhilesh’s submissions that Raja had caused a loss of Rs.22,000 crore to the public exchequer by favouring some telecom firms in award of the 2G spectrum licenses.

He said due to Raja at least two telecom firms, Swan Telecom and Unitech, benefited to the tune of several hundred crore of rupees by selling their stakes to various other global firms shortly after getting licences.

“Swan was allotted UAS (Unified Access Service) licences for 13 circles for Rs.1,537 crore. It offloaded 45 percent of its share in the licence before roll out to Etisalat of UAE for Rs.4,200 crore. Similarly, Unitech was allotted UAS licences for 22 circles for Rs.1,658 crore. It offloaded 60 percent of its share in the license to Telenor of Norway for Rs.6,100 crore even before roll-out,” the CBI counsel said.

According to CBI, the estimated loss to government by grant of licences to these two companies comes to Rs.7,105 crore. “On pro-rata basis, the estimated loss for all 122 circles is more than Rs.22,000 crore,” the counsel said.

The CBI said the former minister’s custody was essential for further questioning because he had been evasive in replying to their queries during his interrogation on four occasions at the agency’s headquarters.

Refuting CBI’s allegations that Raja is giving evasive replies, Raja’s lawyer Ramesh Gupta said: “The calculations by the CBI is imaginary. Raja as a minister is not the only one who has fixed the price of the spectrum allocation, but it is by the government and was a policy decision.”

“The prices were fixed in 2001 and finally allotted in 2008. So all these years prices can go up and go down, and levelling charges like the loss to the government by me (Raja) is incorrect,” Gupta added.

Gupta also stressed that Raja was not absconding anywhere and was also not in a position to tamper with evidence as all the documents were seized by the CBI during the raid at the MP’s premises.

This is the first time that the CBI is directly accusing Raja of complicity in the 2G scam after it had filed an FIR against unknown officials and private persons and companies on Oct 21, 2009.

Though the agency has pegged the loss at Rs.22,000 crore based on the calculations made by the Central Vigilance Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General had in its report projected a presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore.

Gupta, who also appeared for Behura, said: “I joined the department after all these decisions had already been taken by the government. So there is no involvement of mine in the alleged scam.”

While allowing the CBI plea for five-day police custody, Saini said: “The allegation against the accused are that they allotted the unified access service licences in violation of rules and procedures and caused huge loss estimated to be Rs.22,000 crore to the government.”

“The allegation against the trio are very serious on the face of it and required no elaboration. Accordingly, considering the nature of the allegation, seriousness and gravity of offences, there is a consequent need of interrogation of the accused persons,” he added.

“The prayer of police custody is justified and all three accused are accordingly remanded to police custody till Feb 8,” Saini said.

All accused persons will be medically examined every 48 hours and their counsel and family members will be allowed to meet them for half an hour everyday at a time convenient to both the parties, Saini said.

The court, in the Patiala House court premises, also permitted Behura to be taken to the Indraprastha Apollo hospital Feb 5 to meet his wife before and after her operation, if she undergoes one.