Trial in 2G scam begins, will big heads roll?
The trial in the biggest corruption case in the country began on Friday as the court started recording the statement of Anand Subramaniam of Reliance Capital as prosecution witness in the case.
November 11, 2011 / 11:59 IST
The trial in the biggest corruption case in the country began on Friday as the court started recording the statement of Anand Subramaniam of Reliance Capital as prosecution witness in the case.
In all, 150 witnesses will be examined in the Supreme Court monitored trial involving high profile individuals like former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi.
The CBI will first be dealing with the Reliance-Swan link and try to establish that Swan Telecom was a front for Reliance Telecom and this was a violation of clause 8 of the telecom policy. Group President of Reliance AN Sethuraman had earlier submitted the application for the GSM licence on behalf of Swan Telecom in 2007 when the two companies were one. Three Reliance Telecom executives; Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are behind bars for cheating and conspiracy, essentially hiding the fact that Swan was a cross holding of Reliance at the time of applying for the 2G licences. Swan Telecom was bought over from Reliance telecom by DB Realty promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka are also behind bars. Just a day before the trail was set to begin, DMK Chief Karunanidhi had expressed concern over the functioning of the judiciary. Without making a mention of his daughter Kanimozhi who continues to be in jail since May, Karunandihi did question the courts. ADAG-led RTL has been put on trial by the court which said Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd was "just a mask" for RTL. The court had said the accused Group Managing Director of Reliance ADAG Gautam Doshi, its Group President Surendra Pipara and its senior Vice President Hari Nair had passed on the ineligible firm Swan Telecom to accused Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of M/s DB Realty Ltd. Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the court had framed charges against Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, Hari Nair, Shahid Usman Balwa, Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani. Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's former Private Secretary R K Chandolia, directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, and three telecom firms - RTL, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd have also been put on trial in the case. The charges framed against all the accused under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealt with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant. The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
