The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the 2G spectrum scam on Thursday gave a clean chit to the Tata Group, at a hearing of two petitions seeking to direct the agency to name four more persons as accused.
Rejecting the petitions to name Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and DMK chief M Karunanidhi?s wife Dayalu Ammal as accused, special CBI judge OP Saini also imposed a cost of R10,000 on each petitioner, since the complaints were ?not only devoid of any substance but are also contrary to law…resulting into loss of precious time of the court?.
If the money is not deposited within three days from Thursday, warrants would be issued against them. The petitions were filed by Delhi-based journalist M Furquan and Ghaziabad-based scrap dealer Dharmender Pandey.
The CBI counsel said the Tata Group had committed no wrongdoing in the scam, saying it was not a ?beneficiary? in the scam that allegedly cost the exchequer a presumptive loss of R1.76 lakh crore.
There was ?no illegality in the granting of (second-generation or 2G) licences to the Tatas,? the agency said, while ending speculation that Tata Teleservices, a part of the diversified Tata Group, would figure in the second supplementary chargesheet to be filed by the agency before June 30.
?The real beneficiaries are the new people who got new licences for telecommunication services,? the CBI argued while replying to petitions that sought to make Tata and his lobbyist Radia and Ambani as parties to the telecom case. It may be noted that CBI, in its charge-sheet filed on April 2, had said that Tata Teleservices was deprived of GSM spectrum by the way the dual technology policy was implemented. CBI had stated that Tata Teleservices got a raw deal even when it came to spectrum allocation as Raja had ensured that the company’s application was processed only after the applications made by Unitech and Swan Telecom was cleared. CBI had noted that though the decision to permit dual technology was notified by the telecom ministry on October 19, 2007, Reliance Communications, Shyam Telelinks and HFCL Infotel had already been granted in-principle approvals on October 18. But when Tata Teleservices applied for dual technology, its application was clubbed with the new licensees. ?Investigation has revealed that Raja in conspiracy with other accused person, did not accord in-principle approval to Tata Teleservices till January 10, 2008 when letters of intent to new licences were distributed,? the charge sheet said. Earlier on Monday, another Delhi-based lawyer R Krishnamurthy had withdrawn its plea seeking to make the industrialists and DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal and others as accused in the case. More than a dozen people are in judicial custody over the telecom scam, including disgraced former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and executives from Reliance ADAG and Unitech. The Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO, on Wednesday sought permission from the Supreme Court to submit documents showing the alleged role of textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran in favoring Aircel while giving spectrum licences in late 2006 when he was telecom minister. However, Maran has denied the allegations, saying he didn’t favor any company during his tenure as telecom minister.
