2G scam: SC releases Behura, Raja files bail plea too

Former Telecom Minister A. Raja, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court for bail saying the case against him is "false and fabricated."

Raja filed the bail plea soon after the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura in the same case. The Supreme Court also upheld the bail granted to Raja’s ex-Private Secretary R.K. Chandolia by the trial court.
Raja, who is in jail since his arrest on February 2, 2011 sought bail from Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini on the ground of parity saying all his co-accused have already secured it.
"The case against the petitioner (A Raja) is false and fabricated and not sustainable in law or on facts," Raja said in his four-page bail plea.
On Mr. Raja's bail plea, the court issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation and sought its reply by May 11, 2012.
"Put up for reply and arguments on bail plea for May 11," the judge said.
Besides Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi, Behura, Chandolia, corporate honchos — Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's MD Gautam Doshi, ADAG group president Surendra Pipara and senior vice-president Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka — are facing trial in the case.
The court has also put on trial Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Director of Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Karim Morani and Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd.Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal.
Besides the 14 people, three telecom firms — Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd., Reliance Telecom Ltd. and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt. Ltd., are also facing trial in the case.
Raja and others have been charged for the offences including criminal breach of trust that entails a maximum punishment of life.
Earlier, a bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and K.S. Radhakrishnan upheld the trial court’s order for bail to Chandolia, setting aside a Delhi High Court order, which had stayed grant of bail to him by the trial court suo motu.
The Supreme Court bench had earlier stayed temporarily the High Court's order, which had put on hold the trial court's order granting bail to Chandolia.
The bench granted bail to Behura stipulating that he would furnish a personal bond of Rs. 10 lakh and surety of Rs. 5 lakh. 
Chandolia had approached the Supreme Court against the High Court’s suo motu decision to stay the grant of bail to him by the special court on December 1, 2011, saying that the order was "unwarranted and erroneous".
The High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the news reports on grant of bail to Chandolia and suspended it, saying that his release would have an impact on Behura's bail plea, on which the verdict was then reserved. Later, Behura was also denied bail by the High Court.
Behura had challenged the High Court's order of December 16, 2011, which had denied him the bail on the ground that he was the "perpetrator" of the alleged illegal design of Raja and cannot claim benefit of parity with others released on bail.
The Supreme Court had on December 7, 2011 put on hold the High Court's suo motu decision of staying Mr. Chandolia's bail and had issued notice to the CBI on Mr. Behura's plea on January 2, 2012. Also watch the accompanying video to see CNBC-TV18's Malavika Jain's analysis on this.