A Raja must be allowed to attend Parliament: Vijay Agarwal

Former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja was granted bail today by a special court in the 2G case.

Lawyer Vijay Agarwal says, Raja should be allowed to attend Parliament. “If you go by the precedence, Kanimozhi is being allowed to attend the Parliament,” he adds. Below is the edited transcript of his interview on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: It is perhaps the first time that the court is noting that the CBI has submitted that the accused obtained a bribe of Rs 200 crore by misusing his official position. This seems to be the first time that a claim by the CBI is now being recognised by the court, yet the court enlarges Raja on bail. What are the forward implications going from here? A: There are two charge sheets in this case. The first charge sheet is regarding rent of licences. There is a supplementary charge sheet, second charge sheet in this case, that talks of this Rs 200 crore transaction. If you see the order on charge, that is the charge already on Raja about this Rs 200 crore transaction. The charge is that because it was DMK party that is why he had favoured these guys. That has been the stand from the very beginning. So, CBI only reiterated this stand so that the bail application is rejected. It is the habit of the prosecution. So, it was reiteration of the argument. Q: Will Raja be now allowed to attend Parliament? There are no such restrictions in the order atleast. A: Yes, there are no such restrictions. If you go by the precedence, Kanimozhi is being allowed to attend the Parliament. So, Raja should be allowed.