New Delhi, December 09: The Supreme Court has reserved its order in Rs 1.76 Lakh crores 2G Spectrum Scam in which ex-Telecom Minister A Raja and CVC PJ Thomas, the then Union Telecom Secretary are under CBI scanner.
A bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly yesterday reserved the order after hearing marathon arguments addressed on behalf of the petitioners NGO Centre for PIL, Department for Telecommunication and CBI.
During the arguments the government informed the Court that Mr Thomas whose own role as Union Telecom Secretary is under CBI scanner, has decided to recuse himself from the supervision of CBI investigation in the case.
The apex court pulled up CBI on several occasions for not conducting diligent and fair investigation and asked the premier investigating agency why Mr Raja and the then Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas have not been interrogated despite strong prima facie evidence against the two.
The apex court today also sought the details of the allocation of Spectrum since 2001 bringing the NDA government headed by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee also within the purview of the CBI investigation.
The Judges said ” it is not merely a question of Rs 1.76 lakh crore but the case has wider compass and its needs to be looked into what happened in 2001 and whether the policy of ‘First Come First Serve’ was adhered to”.
Now CBI can also investigate the roles of former Telecom Ministers Late Pramod Mahajan, Mr Arun Shourie, Ministers in NDA government and Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Telecom Minister in UPA I.
Senior counsel for Mr Raja, TR Andhiyarjuna had alleged that Mr Shourie and Mr Maran had issued 52 licenses and nobody raised the finger and media has launched a systematic campaign against A Raja to malign his reputation.
Senior counsel KKVenugopal appearing for CBI today submitted before the court that CBI has no objection if the investigation in the spectrum scam is monitored by the Supreme Court and also informed the court that the investigation will be complete by the end of February next year and that CBI will spare no efforts to bring the culprits to book.
As a part of speedy investigation the CBI today raided the Delhi and Chennai residences of Mr Raja and also raided the premises of his brother and his sister Kamala. She has also been quizzed by CBI.
Earlier counsel for the petitioner Mr Prashant Bhushan contended before the court that the government was not taking the CAG report seriously and the then Minister A Raja ignored the advice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Union Law and Finance Ministries.
–UNI