Ex-aide: Rift between Raja,telecom secy Mathur

If senior advocate Ram Jethmalani,the counsel for Kanimozhi,wanted to touch a raw nerve,this was the question

If senior advocate Ram Jethmalani,the counsel for Kanimozhi,wanted to touch a raw nerve,this was the question. I am suggesting to you,Mister Achary,that you are too small a man to walk up to the Minister and ask him this question, he thundered at Aseervatham Achary,who was A Rajas aide for more than nine of the 11 years that the latter was a minister.

Raja stood behind Jethmalani,whispering into his ear during the cross-examination of Achary,seated in the witness box to the left of special CBI Judge O P Saini. Kanimozhi,who is usually in her seat on the second row to the right of the judge,was on her feet,watching from a vantage point next to the defence lawyers. Even Shahid Balwa,who was scampering to the bench and back with suggestions for Jethmalani,stood still behind Raja.

A packed court for the 2G spectrum case waited in silence for Acharys response.

The 42-year-old Achary took a few seconds to compose himself. I was his Additional Personal Secretary. I have spent almost 10 years of my life with him, he said.

After two and a half hours spread over two days of grilling,Jethmalani had found an inconsistency in Acharys statement. The latter had said in his statement to the CBI that,Sh. A Raja used to say that this Secretary D S Mathur,then Secretary,Telecommunications was not listening to him. On Monday,Achary told the court that once,I asked Sh. A Raja as to why he was shouting at Sh. D S Mathur and he replied this man is not listening to me and that is why,I am shouting. Jethmalani pointed out that Mondays information was not given before,and it did not look like Raja had told him personally.

Achary was calm. You know how our frame of mind is when giving a statement to the CBI and court. I may have missed some small facts, he began. I am here; you can take it from me now, he told the judge.

The whos who of criminal lawyers that comprises the defence senior advocate Sushil Kumar and Mumbai-based Majid Memon among them watched intently,like a pugilist who peers in between his guard for weaknesses in the opponents. Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit,on the other hand,hurriedly pulled up relevant documents on an iPad and scrolled through them to prevent being caught off-guard.

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Achary rarely made eye contact with Jethmalani over the two days. Achary preferred to answer to the judge. The tactic worked once,and an agitated Jethmalani said,Look at me! And understand the question!,when Achary,failing to understand yet another query,turned to the judge for a simpler version of it.

Why then,didnt he ask Mathur directly? Wouldnt that have been easy for him to ask the Secretary why the Minister was shouting at him,persisted Jethmalani. Achary,who like Raja,is from Tamil Nadu,seemed to pick up where Jethmalanis taunt ended. I am a small fry, he said,and the courtroom giggled at the tit-for-tat.

Achary continued,expressionless. But what he said stood out from the duel of details he had been having with Jethmalani: I had spent one quarter of my entire life with the minister. Achary continued,It was not appropriate for me,a Section officer,to go to a Secretary of the Government of India and ask him such a question.

At one point,he told the judge that he was sitting in his office while Raja and Mathur had an argument in the adjoining room. He said he did not know why but said he heard,the voice of A Raja at the peak of his tone and Mathurs at the lowest.

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Asked about meeting Balwa and Vinod Goenka,Achary said he did not exchange anything except Hi,Hi,Hello,Hello with them the 20 times he saw the duo.