Court holds order on ex-Telco secretary's bail plea

A Delhi court today reserved its order on the bail plea of former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in the 2G spectrum case. "Put up for order on June 3," Special CBI Judge O P Saini said after the arguments on Behura's bail plea were concluded.

During the arguments, the CBI said that Behura should not have followed the orders of the then Telecom Minister A Raja, who is the key accused in the case, if they were not in accordance with the law. "He (Behura) was not obliged to follow the orders of the minister (Raja), if they were not in accordance with the law," CBI prosecutor A K Singh said.

Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi, appearing for Behura, countered the CBI's submissions saying his client was only performing his duties, being the secretary of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). The agency had earlier said Behura did not put any check and balance on Raja's "misdeeds" during grant of licences despite having highest executive powers in the DoT.

The CBI had also opposed Behura's plea that the Prime Minister was informed by Raja through letters about the process of grant of licences, saying mere informing him did not mean that he got the consent on the issue. The agency had pointed out that Behura had played an active role in giving licences to Swan Telecom, promoted by Shahid Usman Balwa, despite its ineligibility.
 Behura is lodged in Tihar Jail along with 12 other accused persons including Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and Shahid Usman Balwa.