Order on bail plea of 2G accused deferred

NEW DELHI - A Delhi court Thursday deferred its order on bail pleas of R.K. Chandolia and Shahid Usman Balwa, the two accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam along with former telecom minister A. Raja.

The bail pleas were filed before Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini Monday. The judge will now hear the plea Feb 25, after hearing arguments from both sides.

Chandolia is former personal secretary to Raja and Balwa is the managing director of private firm DB Realty.

Meanwhile, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura requested the court to defreeze his bank account as he had to make payments to hospitals and doctors for his wife’s treatment.

“The court will decide Feb 28, on defreezing of Behura’s account. Meanwhile his bail application will also be heard the same day,” the judge said.

The court has remanded all the four in judicial custody till March 3 so that they could be presented in court at the same time.

“DB Realty and Etisalat had taken over Swan Telecom, one of the companies that got the 2G licence by allegedly presenting pre-dated drafts when Raja suddenly changed the criteria for granting of licence,” said a CBI application before the court.

“Raja allegedly helped Swan bag 2G licences for 13 circles, including Mumbai and Delhi, for Rs.1,537 crore but Swan sold 45 percent shares to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) telecom giant Etisalat for approximately Rs.4,500 crore within months of bagging the spectrum,” the application adds.

Raja, Behura and Chandolia were arrested along with Raja by the CBI Feb 2.

Balwa was arrested Feb 8 in Mumbai and was flown to Delhi on a transit remand. He was the fourth person to be arrested in the case.