Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) The CBI Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it would require two more days to formally file charges in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the apex court that it will formally file the charges April 2 instead of its earlier deadline of March 31.

The charge sheet against former communications minister Andimuthu Raja, four officials and two telecom companies will arraign them for forgery, conspiracy, cheating and abetment, the agency said.

A supplementary charge sheet will be filed April 25.

The investigation agency told Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly that its investigations in the case within the country will be completed by May 31. However, the foreign dimension of the probe would take more time.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal told the court that a joint team of the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is going abroad to collect evidence.

The team will first visit Mauritius and then other destinations, he said.

The court was also told that diplomatic channels have been activated to persuade authorities in Mauritius to share information on financial transactions of the companies involved in 2G dealings.

Some 80,000 papers were being readied to be filed along with the formal charge sheet, he said.

The senior counsel also told the court that every precaution was being taken to ensure that the trial was not frustrated on technical objections.

Each of the accused has to be given a set of 80,000 pages, he said.

Since the accused were high profile people any goof-up may result in “accused getting a handle to create hurdles in the trial,” Venugopal told the court.

“The trial could be blocked at every stage on technical grounds”, he said, expressing apprehension that “the pace of the trial in 2G scam may not be different from the other cases.”

At this, the court said, “We are sure that the institution is capable of clearing all the roadblocks.”

Expressing satisfaction that the CBI has so far done “more than satisfactory work”, the court in a note of caution said, “We hope we will not have to pass an order that officers (engaged in the investigation) will not be withdrawn.”

As senior counsel Prashant Bhushan once again pressed for the setting up a committee of retired officers for assisting the court in supervising the investigations into 2G scam, the court asked him to exercise patience and let the agency do its work.

Even as the court reminded the CBI about its earlier preference for a special public prosecutor, Venugopal told the court that most of the known lawyers he had contacted in the Supreme Court were engaged by either of the parties involved in 2G litigation.

The court gave the CBI till April 1 to pick up the special public prosecutor outside those on the panel of the investigating agency.

The court also posted for hearing an application by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) for the court’s direction for a CBI probe into the suicide of Shahid Batcha, Raja’s close aide.

The court has also asked the income tax department to file its status report on the action taken by it on the financial transactions involved in 2G scam.