Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) A man was detained in the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Tuesday as he tried to photograph former communications minister A. Raja, who is prime accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. The man, who called himself a follower of Raja, was later let off.

Special Judge O.P. Saini directed police to arrest the man, who identified himself as Sohail Hindustani, immediately after lawyers present in the court caught hold of him while he was trying to take a photo of Raja, saying he was a “blind follower” of the former minister.

The drama began when court proceedings were on and all of the 13 accused were present in the court. Hindustani, who was dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, approached Raja and asked him if he could take a photo.

As Raja declined and tried to convince Hindustani to go away, some lawyers caught hold of him, saying this was contempt of court and the man should be arrested as he clicked a photo of Raja in the courtroom.

Hindustani was detained by police for questioning. However, when they failed to find any photo, he was brought back before the judge, who ordered his release in the absence of any evidence.

“No evidence is on record, therefore he should be released,” said Saini.

Hindustani also told the court that he is a DMK party worker and a blind follower of Raja and should be released.

Besides Raja, the accused present in the court included former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Raja’s aide R.K. Chandolia, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra and two executives of the Anil Ambani Group - Gautam Doshi and Hari Nair.

Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal named in the supplementary charge-sheet filed April 25, were also present.

Cineyug Films’ Karim Morani as well as DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar named as co-conspirators too were present in the court.