2G: Daily trial completes one year

New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) One year after a special court here commenced day-to-day hearing in the 2G case, the process of recording of evidence is on with over 75 witnesses having deposed so far in proceedings against former telecom minister A. Raja and others.

Special Judge O.P. Saini has also recorded the evidence of over 25 witnesses in a separate 2G case involving Essar and Loop Telecom promoters.

The court Nov 11, 2011 started the daily trial after accepting the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea and framing graft and other charges against 17 accused, including Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi.

On Friday, retired department of telecommunications (DoT) official K. Sridhara appeared in court to give evidence.

The documents filed in the court and the evidence recorded by the judge till now are believed to run into thousands of pages.

On the first anniversary of the daily trial, Raja’s counsel Babbanjeet Singh said: “The trial is being conducted speedily… at times, we don’t even get time to prepare our defence.”

The special court hearing the 2G case was set up last year on the direction of the Supreme Court.

According to the government auditor, Raja was biased while distributing second generation (2G) mobile airwaves and operating licences to telecom firms, causing a loss of up to Rs.1.76 lakh crore in revenue to the treasury.

Including Raja, all the individual accused are out on bail.

The court, which has taken a break due to festivals, would resume the daily hearing Nov 19.

IANS 2012-11-11 16:06:08