A Delhi court has suggested to the CBI to widen its investigation in the 2G scam and consider security aspects,as raised by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in his complaint. The Union Home Ministry has held that Etisalat DB is a national security risk as it has links with the ISI. Its board member,Shahid Balwa,is an associate of Dawood Ibrahim.Ive enquired that Balwa has constructed an illegal airport in Palanpur,Gujarat,.owns a jet plane,makes illegal visit to Dubai.criminals visit him, Swamy said. Balwa,the director of DB Realty,has been arrested for his role in the scam. Special CBI Judge Pradeep Chaddah was hearing CBIs status report on the case after it was earlier asked by the court to respond to Swamys private complaint. His complaint has a wider sweep, observed the judge,mentioning the existence of the illegal airport in his order. Numerous searches were conducted in the Department of Telecom,various private companies,besides the residential premises of various public servants and people including A Raja, the status report said,adding that a large number of documents have been recovered,various witnesses examined and four arrests were made former Telecom minister A Raja,Balwa,and bureaucrats Sidharth Behura and R K Chandolia. The agency,however,downplayed Swamys claim regarding national security. (We are) not aware of the details on national security aspect as raised by Swamy. Citing links of Balwa and Etisalat with ISI,Swamy retorted: Why are you not taking national security into consideration? Responded the CBI counsel:We are dealing with 2G scam.FIR deals with 2G. FIR is not the encyclopedia..why cant you investigate if the money (involved in the scam) was used for anti-national purposes.MHA says Etisalat should not be allowed entry in India.why CBI is evading the issue? asked the Janata Party chief. Im ready to sit with you and discuss the issue. He also questioned the CBI move to charge the accused arrested under a watered down provision Section 468 of IPC,instead of 467,as the latter provides stricter punishment of life sentence. The agency requested the court to shift Swamys petition to the court of O P Saini at Patiala House,where the 2G scam case is currently being heard,including the trial of Raja,Balwa,Behura and Chandolia. If both the cases (2G scam trial and his private complaint) could be heard together,I do not have any problem as I am working in public interest, Swamy responded. He further said that he will request the Supreme Court,which is hearing his petition on March 1,that both the cases be clubbed and tried in Chhadahs court. The next hearing is on March 8.
