Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Friday issued fresh summons for Feb 22 to the promoters of Essar Group and Loop Telecom, accused in the 2G spectrum scam case, after they failed to appear before the court.

The summons were issued to corporate honchos Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, I.P. Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan.

Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini, issuing the summons, said: “The serving officer shall visit the given addresses at least on three different dates and in case of unavailability of accused or any male member of the family at the given address, shall effect the service by affixation during the last visit.”

The court also directed that summons can be issued by sending SMS and making telephonic calls.

The court has issued summons to five corporate honchos Dec 21, 2011 after taking cognisance of the third set of charges filed in the 2G case alleging criminal conspiracy and cheating by three more firms and five people, including some promoters of the Essar Group. The court had asked the five accused to appear before it Jan 27.

None of the corporate honchos appeared in the court Friday. Counsel appearing for accused told court that summons have not been served on Ravi Ruia and four other corporate honchos.

The defence lawyers said that Ruias and Khaitans are at present in Dubai and the CBI officials pasted copies of the summons at their Delhi and Mumbai addresses.

Special Public prosecutor U.U. Lalit replied that summons were issued to accused on the address which was submitted by them during interrogation. Agreeing with the prosecution’s submission, the court said that the four have not intimated the change of address either to the investigating agency or to court.

Judge Saini added: “I may add that the addresses of Mumbai and Delhi, respectively, were given by these four accused voluntarily to the investigating agency during investigation and are the last known addresses available on record.”

However, another accused, Vikash Saraf moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance. Saraf’s Counsel, Siddharath Luthra said: “He (Saraf) is employed abroad and requires at least four weeks time for putting in his appearance in the court.”

Luthra added that summons were not issued in a proper manner to Saraf.

The court allowed exemption to Vikash Saraf for Friday and listed the matter for hearing Feb 22 after observing the probe agency has raised no objection for it.

The third set of charges alleged that Essar Group used Loop as a front company to acquire telecom licences in 2008. Essar, which already had a 33 percent stake in Vodafone, held substantial equity in Loop and thus violated telecom licence norms, the charge sheet said.

According to the government auditor, the 2G scam, allegedly masterminded by former telecom minister A. Raja, pertained to biased distribution of mobile airwaves and operating licences, in lieu of kickbacks, to telecom firms that could have cost the treasury up to Rs.1.76 lakh crore in lost revenue.

Nineteen individuals and six companies are accused in the case. Except for Raja and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, all other arrested accused have been released on bail.