2G scam: despite CBI,Raja gets bail

Considering the period of detention in the light of the progress of the case,the court said it was of the opinion that further detention of Raja would not serve any purpose.

M A Parameswari,Raja8217;s wife,who was in the court when the order was passed by Special CBI Judge O P Saini,was visibly relieved as she told reporters outside later that the family is happy and will have a get together. 8220;There will be no celebrations,8221; she said.

Celebrations broke out outside the court soon after news of his bail trickled out with a large number of his supporters and some party MPs gathering to cheer him. They distributed sweets.

In his 14-page order,the judge imposed several conditions on Raja including a ban on his visit to his home state of Tamil Nadu or the Department of Telecom DoT which he presided over as minister for over three years.

He had resigned as minister in November 2010 in the wake of the eruption of 2G scam,into whose probe the Supreme Court had given stern directions.

8220;An apprehension has been expressed by prosecution CBI that if enlarged on bail,the applicant Raja may influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence. However,the case is going on for than a year and no such incident has been brought to my notice,8221; the court said.

8220;Moreover,this apprehension of the prosecution can be addressed by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused. Furthermore,almost entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature and same is in the custody of the court,8221; the judge said before whom two DMK MPs stood surety for Raja8217;s bail.

After the bail order,scores of supporters surrounded Raja and a loud cheer went among them inside the court room itself.

Raja,clad in black trousers and white shirt,too greeted his supporters with smile and blew kisses to them with a victory sign.

Arrested by the CBI on February 1 last year,Raja had moved his first bail application only five day ago,minutes after the Supreme Court had granted bail to the co-accused and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura.

8220;Long live Raja8221;,his supporters raised slogans. 8220;We are very happy with the order. No celebrations. Our whole family will have a get together after a very long time,8221; Raja8217;s wife said when asked about Raja,who was in jail since February 2 last year.

Senior DMK leader T R Baalu,who also arrived in the court later,expressed his happiness on the bail order and said,8221;we are very happy with the court8217;s landmark order.8221;

After Raja came out of the courtroom,his supporters surrounded him and welcomed him with a shawl before escorting him to the lock up situated nearby the court room.

The order was pronounced when the other co-accused in the case were present except DMK MP Kanimozhi who marked her presence in the morning and had left the court for attending the Parliament session.

The court imposed various conditions on Raja while enlarging him on bail and directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 20 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.

In the bail order,the court restrained the DMK MP from visiting the Department of Telecom DoT,which he had headed as minister,and has asked him not to visit his home state of Tamil Nadu without its prior permission.

The court also noted that the trial in the case has been going on smoothly and there was no allegation that Raja would flee from justice if he is enlarged on bail.

8220;I may note that all the other accused in the case have also been released on bail. The applicant Raja is in custody since February 2,2011. Considering the period of detention in the light of the progress of the case,I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose.

8220;There is neither any allegation nor material on record to suggest that if the accused is enlarged on bail,he would flee from justice,8221; the court said.

The court also said that till date,statement of 42 prosecution witnesses have been recorded after the framing of charges in the case and barring some 8220;stiff resistance8221; from some of the accused,a 8220;good amount8221; of work has been done.

8220;I may note with satisfaction and also with a tinge of regret that a reasonably good amount of work has been done in the case in spite of stiff resistance put up by some of the accused at different stages of the case,8221; it said.

The court also observed that all the co-accused in the case has already been granted bail and as trial is going on smoothly,Raja8217;s detention would not serve any purpose.

8220;In the end,considering the progress of the trial,period of custody of the accused and the fact that all other accused have been released in bail,I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose and for these reasons,I am inclined to admit the applicant Raja to bail8230;.,8221; the court said.

The court directed Raja not to make any inducement,threat or promise,either directly or indirectly,to any person acquainted with the case.

It also asked Raja to surrender his passport with it and said he should remain present before it during the hearing.

The judge said that if Raja wants to remain absent during the hearing,he will have to take its prior permission and in case of 8220;unavoidable circumstances8221;,he shall immediately give intimation to the court and the CBI about it.

During the arguments on the bail plea,senior counsel Ramesh Gupta,who appeared for Raja,had said that his client should be granted bail on the ground of parity as all the co-accused have been granted bail.

Raja8217;s counsel had submitted that the DMK leader is not in a position to tamper with the evidence as the entire evidence is documentary and is in the custody of the court.

The CBI had vehemently opposed the bail plea saying Raja has been charge with the offence under section 409 criminal breach of trust of the IPC which is punishable with life imprisonment and he had also obtained a bribe of Rs 200 crore by misusing his official position.

The agency had said that Raja had subverted the policy and had granted licences to ineligible applicants.

The CBI had also argued that if Raja is enlarged on bail,witnesses coming from Tamil Nadu may not feel safe and may not depose fearlessly in the court.

The agency had told the court that the probe regarding Mauritius-based Delphi Investment Ltd is pending and it was also probing whether Raja and other accused had received a bribe of Rs 200 crore from another company.

CHRONOLOGY

New Delhi,May 15 PTI Following is the chronology of the events in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which the prime accused and former Telecom Minister A Raja was today granted bail:

May 2007: A Raja takes over as telecom minister.

Aug 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access Service UAS Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications DoT.

Sept 25,2007: Telecom ministry issues press note fixing October 1,2007 as deadline for receiving application for UASL licences.

Oct 1,2007: DoT receives 575 applications for UAS licences of 46 companies.

Nov 2,2007: The Prime Minister writes to Raja directing him to ensure fair allotment of the 2G spectrum.

Nov 22,2007: Finance Ministry writes to DoT raising concerns over the procedure adopted by it. Demand for review rejected.

Jan 10,2008: DoT decides to issue licences on first-come-first-served basis,preponing the cut-off date to September 25,from October 1,2007. Later on the same day,DoT posted an announcement on its website saying those who apply between 3.30 and 4.30 pm would be issued licences in accordance with the said policy.

2008: Swan Telecom,Unitech and Tata Teleservices sell off a part of their stakes at much higher rates to Etisalat,Telenor and DoCoMo respectively.

May 4,2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission CVC on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.

May 19,2009 : Another complaint filed to the CVC by one Arun Agarwal,highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.

2009: CVC directs CBI to investigate the irregularities in allocation of the 2G spectrum.

July 1,2009: Delhi High Court holds advancing of cut-off date as illegal on a petition by telecom company S-Tel.

Oct 21,2009: CBI registers an FIR against 8220;unknown officers of DoT and unknown private persons/ companies under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.

Oct 22,2009: CBI raids DoT offices.

Mar 31,2010: CAG says there were large scale irregularities in the spectrum allocation.

May,2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves Delhi High Court seeking probe into the scam by CBI.

May 25,2010: Delhi HC dismisses the petition.

Aug 2010: Appeal filed in the SC against the HC order.

Aug 18,2010: HC refuses to direct the Prime Minister to decide on a complaint by Janata Party chief Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in the 2G scam.

Sept 24,2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of Raja.

Nov 10,2010: CAG submits report on 2G spectrum to government stating loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to exchequer.

Nov 14,2010: Raja resigns as Telecom Minister

Dec 1,2010: SC directs original tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others be handed over to it.

Dec 1,2010: Raja questions CAG findings in the SC.

Dec 2,2010: SC comes down heavily on Raja for bypassing and overruling PM8217;s advice to defer allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.

Dec 8,2010: SC asks Centre to consider setting up of a special court to try 2G spectrum scam case.

Dec 8,2010: ED submits report. Says money trail covers 10 countries,including Mauritius.

Dec 15,2010: Swamy mentions in complaint that Raja favoured 8220;ineligible8221; private companies Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless Ltd in allocating the spectrum.

Jan 4,2011: Swamy moves SC seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licences.

Feb 2,2011: Raja,former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja8217;s former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia arrested.

Feb 8,2011: Shahid Usman Balwa,promoter of Swan Telecom,arrested by CBI.

Feb 10,2011: SC asks the CBI to bring under its scanner corporate houses which were beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum.

Feb 17,2011: Raja sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody.

Feb 18,2011: Balwa sent to Judicial custody.

Feb 24,2011: CBI tells Delhi Court Balwa facilitated transaction to Kalaignar TV.

Feb 28,2011: Raja seeks judicial proceedings through video conferencing stating that he faces threat to life from fellow prisoners.

Mar 14,2011: The Delhi High Court sets up special court to deal exclusively with 2G cases. Balwa also allowed to appear via video conferencing.

Mar 29,2011: SC permits CBI to file charge sheet on April 2 instead of March 31. Two more persons 8211; Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal arrested.

Apr 2,2011: The CBI files its first charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Apr 25,2011: CBI files second charge sheet and court issues summons to Kanimozhi,Sharad Kumar and Karim Morani taking cognisance of the charge sheet.

May 20,2011: Court rejects bail pleas of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar and orders their forthwith arrest.

July 25,11: Arguments on charge framing begins. Raja seeks to make PM and P Chidambaram as witnesses.

Aug 23,11: Swamy moves SC for making Chidambaram an accused.

Sept 8,11: SC asks Swamy to submit his correspondences with CBI in connection with his plea to probe Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G scam.

Sept 15,11: Swamy moves Special CBI court to make Chidambaram a co-accused.

Sept 29,11: CBI says role of Anil Ambani being probed,gives a clean chit to Tata and Videocon group.

Oct 10,11: SC reserves order on Swamy8217;s plea for a probe into the alleged role of Chidambaram in the 2G scam.

Oct 22,11: Special court frames charges against Raja and 16 others in the 2G case.

Nov,11: Barring Raja and Behura,12 others get bail.

Dec 12,11: CBI files third charge sheet. Names Essar promoters Anshuman,Ravi Ruia,Essar Group director Strategy and Planning Vikas Saraf,Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and her husband I P Khaitan as accused.

Jan 31,12: SC says filing complaint under the PC Act is a constitutional right and the competent authority should take a decision on giving the sanction within four months.

Feb 2,2012: SC cancels 122 licences granted during Raja8217;s tenure. Directs auctioning of licences in 4 months.

May 9,2012: SC grants bail to Siddharth Behura,upholds bail of R K Chandolia. A Raja too moves court for bail.

May 11,2012: Behura walks out of Tihar jail.

May 15,2012: Special CBI court grants bail to former Telecom Minister A Raja.