New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday accepted the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), contesting the acquittal of former telecom minister and current Lok Sabha MP, A Raja, and several others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma delivered the ruling on the leave to appeal petition submitted by the CBI. The decision had been reserved since March 14.
“Leave to appeal” refers to permission granted to appeal against a court’s decision.
“The court has granted leave to appeal,” the verdict declared.
“After thoroughly examining the material on record, including the impugned judgment and the arguments presented by both parties, this court is of the view that prima facie grounds exist, necessitating a deeper examination of the entire evidence,” the court further stated.
This decision arrives nearly six years after the CBI initiated legal action contesting the acquittal.
The case’s initial hearing at the High Court occurred on March 21, 2018. Over the course of proceedings, a total of 125 hearings were conducted before various judges.
The CBI contended that the trial court’s acquittal order overlooked “glaring illegalities.” Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain, serving as the Senior Special Public Prosecutor, represented the CBI.
On December 21, 2017, a special court acquitted A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and others of various charges stemming from the alleged Rs. 1.76 lakh crores 2G scam case.
In addition to Raja and Kanimozhi, the court acquitted several other individuals and entities in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. Among them were former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s former private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Limited MD Sanjay Chandra, and three top executives of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) – Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, and Hari Nair.
Others who were acquitted included Swan Telecom Private Limited, Unitech Wireless Limited, Reliance Telecom Limited, film producer Karim Morani, and Sharad Kumar. Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, and Rajiv Agarwal were also among those acquitted in the case.
The special court had also acquitted 19 accused persons in the ED case. Apart from Raja and Kanimozhi, those acquitted included Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv Aggarwal, Karim Morani, P. Amirtham, M.K. Dayalu Ammal, and Sharad Kumar in the money laundering case.
In March 2018, the ED had approached the Delhi High Court against the acquittal order. Later, the CBI also filed a plea challenging the acquittal.
The CBI, in its chargesheet filed in 2011, had alleged that Raja conspired with his former private secretary R.K. Chandolia to manipulate the cut-off date for consideration of applications, benefiting Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s Shahid Balwa, and Vinod Goenka.
The chargesheet filed by the ED also named nine companies as accused, including Kalaignar TV, STPL, Kusegaon Realty Ltd, Cineyug Media & Entertainment Ltd, Dynamix Realty, Eversmile Construction Company Ltd, Conwood Construction & Developers Ltd, DB Realty Ltd, and Mystical Construction Ltd.