Raja allowed to withdraw money from frozen account (Lead)

June 1st, 2011 - 8:40 pm ICT by IANS  

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here Wednesday allowed former communications minister A. Raja to withdraw Rs.1 lakh from his personal bank account to meet his family expenses. The account was ordered frozen by the agency after it arrested him in the 2G scam.

CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini, after taking note of Raja’s petition, ordered the CBI to allow him to withdraw the money from his account “only for the current amount “.

“He can sign cheques to the tune of Rs.1 lakh for the current month,” the judge said.

Earlier, Raja`s counsel said his client’s family had to meet their regular expenses but Raja could not access his bank account.

Raja, listed as the main accused in the 2G spectrum scam along with 13 others, is lodged in the Tihar Jail. The CBI arrested him along with his personal aide R.K. Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura Feb 2.

They are accused of selling second generation (2G) spectrum airwaves to select companies at lower than market rates, causing a huge loss to the national exchequer.

They have been formally charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, including cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

The CBI’s first charge sheet April 2 had named, besides Raja, Behura and Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, Unitech Wireless’s Sanjay Chandra and three executives of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group — Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.

Judge Saini also asked Pipara to appear before the court. Pipara was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here May 3 after he collapsed in the courtroom.

In its April 25 supplementary charge sheet, the CBI named DMK MP Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar as co-conspirators after it traced an illegal money trail of Rs.214 crore in the scam.

The supplementary charge sheet also named Cineyug Films’ founder Karim Morani, Asif Balwa and Rajiv B. Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd.

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