2G scam: Framing of charges against 17 accused Saturday
October 21st, 2011 - 7:26 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here hearing the 2G spectrum allocation scam will pronounce its order on framing of charges against former communications minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others Saturday.
On Oct 14, CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini had reserved the order till Oct 22.
In the process of framing of charges, the court decides as to who among the accused has sufficient prima facie evidence against him to be put on trial.
Earlier, the court reserved its order after Special Public Prosecutor U.U. Lalit wrapped up his rebuttal arguments on framing of additional charges of criminal breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against all the 17 accused.
The special court set up to try the 2G scam accused reserved its order a day after a Supreme Court bench monitoring the case asked CBI as to how long it was going to keep the accused in jail.
The bench observed that the 2G case accused have been behind bars for over seven months now, while the court was yet to decide on framing of charges in the case.
Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, other accused in the case include Raja’s former private secretary R.K. Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and DMK-run Kalaignar TV’s chief Sharad Kumar.
Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa, their colleague Rajeev B. Agarwal, Unitech Ltd’s MD Sanjay Chandra are among other accused.
The CBI chargesheet accuses Raja and others of causing a whopping loss of Rs.30,984 crore to the exchequer by allocating spectrum to ineligible operators as per a criminal conspiracy among themselves.
Their act also involved commission of penal offences of forgery and cheating, besides the misuse of official position by public servants as per the provisions of the Anti Corruption Act.
Towards the fag end of conclusion of argument on framing of charges, the CBI had also sought slapping of the charge of criminal breach of trust against the accused. The new charge entails a sentence of life term on conviction.
All the accused have vehemently opposed the allegations levelled against them by the CBI.
- 2G scam: Order on charges against the 17 accused Oct 22 - Oct 14, 2011
- All accused can't be tried for breach of trust: Balwa (Lead) - Oct 10, 2011
- 2G case: Raja wants separate trial for breach of trust (Lead) - Sep 29, 2011
- 2G case: Decision on Chandolia's bail plea Thursday (Lead) - Nov 30, 2011
- CBI witnesses' statements made court frame 2G charges - Oct 23, 2011
- 2G case: Shahid Balwa gets bail, Chandolia's plea pending (Second Lead) - Nov 29, 2011
- 2G scam: Arguments on framing charges from Thursday (Lead) - Jul 19, 2011
- 2G scam: 17 accused end arguments on charges - Aug 25, 2011
- 2G case: Notice to CBI on Balwa's plea (Lead) - Feb 22, 2012
- Bail orders reserved, dark Diwali for Kanimozhi, six others - Oct 24, 2011
- Criminal breach of trust, conspiracy charge not valid: Kanimozhi - Oct 01, 2011
- Accused knew each other before 2G conspiracy: Court - Oct 22, 2011
- Permission sought for fresh charges against 2G accused - Sep 26, 2011
- Kanimozhi moves high court seeking quashing of 2G charges - Mar 23, 2012
- No bail for Kanimozhi, seven others - Nov 03, 2011
Tags: breach of trust, cbi, central bureau of investigation, corruption act, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, fag end, indian penal code, morani, prima facie evidence, private secretary, public prosecutor, public servants, rebuttal arguments, saini, sharad, special judge, spectrum allocation, supreme court bench, unitech ltd