2G tapping row: No evidence of bribe received by CBI lawyer

The CBI has not found any indication of bribe being received by its lawyer in the 2G scam case whose conversations with a corporate executive accused in the trial were aired by media indicating alleged collusion between the two.

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The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry after purported tapped conversations of its lawyer AK Singh and Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case were aired on a news channel. During its probe, the CBI has not found any evidence which indicates receipt of any illegal gratification by Singh and believes it was a case of indiscreet conversation for which departmental action could be recommended, CBI sources said.

The agency, meanwhile, is continuing the probe to find out corporate executives believed to be behind the leak of such recordings as it believes that corporate rivalry could be a reason behind the leak of conversations. Meanwhile, the agency has received the report from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) about the previous CD purportedly having conversations between its prosecutor and Chandra, who is an accused in the 2G Telecom spectrum allocation scam.

The CFSL has said the conversations are "untampered". However, in the absence of voice samples of Singh and Chandra, it could not authenticate whether the voices in the recordings are of the duo. It clarified that so far there is no indication of CBI's case getting affected in the 2G scam.

Singh, who was removed as prosecutor after the tapes surfaced, has reportedly told investigators that there was nothing unusual in discussing case-related facts with the defence and it is a normal practice as far as it does not adversely affect prosecution's case, they claimed.

Unitech had rejected the allegations, saying Chandra had never met the prosecutor in the 2G case outside the court or had any phone conversation with him.