Thaindian News

New Delhi, Mar 31 (ANI): A Delhi court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of former Telecom Minister A. Raja and three others arrested for their alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam till April 2, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) files its first charge sheet in the case.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini extended the remand of the accused after they were produced through video conferencing before the court.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday allowed a two-day extension to the CBI to file on April 2 its charge sheet against former Raja and some of his close aides in connection with 2G spectrum scam.

The investigating agency said it was readying an 80,000-page document for submission.

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), which placed their status report of their further probe in the scam before the apex court in a sealed cover, informed a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly that the case involved large-scale violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act and ‘benami’ transactions.

The apex court bench after going through the report allowed the CBI plea that the agency should be granted two more days to file the charge sheet in the case.

The ED in its report said that in violation of RBI guidelines, foreign money was invested in many telecom companies, after they were granted licences during Raja’s tenure as Telecom Minister.

The ED giving details about its probe into the case informed the apex court that Rs 106.95 crore was received by a telecom company in lieu of just one share, while the market value of the share was just Rs 270.

The probe agency informed the court that it would start attaching and confiscating the properties of erring telecom companies for violating FEMA soon after filing of the charge sheet.

The ED also informed the court about various investments made in telecom companies.

The CBI had earlier told the Supreme Court that it would file the first charge sheet in the 2G scam against Raja and others under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) for cheating and forgery by March 31.

The probe into the 2G scam has shown links between Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa and Kalaignar TV. Balwa was the fourth high profile person arrested in connection with the scam.

The others arrested in connection with the case are A Raja, his personal secretary RK Chandolia and former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behuria.

Raja was forced to resign from the Union Cabinet last year after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) faulted him for undervaluing spectrum to favour companies who were largely ineligible for 2G spectrum, and added that the government had probably lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue. (ANI)