DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi faced a significant blow today as the Delhi High Court accepted the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging their acquittal in the 2G spectrum allocation cases. Along with Raja and Kanimozhi, 15 other notable figures, including politicians, businessmen, and bureaucrats, were also acquitted in the case by a Special CBI Court at Patiala House in December 2017.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma granted the CBI “leave to appeal” against the trial court’s decision to acquit the 17 accused in the 2G case. Leave to appeal refers to formal permission granted by a court allowing a party to contest a decision before a higher court. In his order, Justice Sharma expressed that upon reviewing the evidence and submissions, he believes a prima facie case exists that warrants further examination of the evidence. He indicated that there is sufficient ground to consider converting the leave to appeal into a regular appeal.
The CBI lodged its leave to appeal plea with the High Court in March 2018, contesting the acquittal of all the accused. The plea was first heard on March 21, 2018, with Senior Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Sanjay Jain presenting the case for the CBI before the High Court. After a prolonged legal process spanning six years and 125 court listings, the plea’s verdict was finally reserved on March 14, 2024. The case underwent hearings before seven different judges before reaching Justice Sharma.
The charges against Raja, who served as Union Telecom Minister during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, revolve around causing substantial losses to the state exchequer by undercharging telecom firms for frequency licenses. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India estimated the total loss to be Rs1.76 trillion. Other accused in the case include former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Managing Director D Sanjay Chandra, and three top executives of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group – Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, and Hari Nair.
In February 2012, the Supreme Court had cancelled 122 telecom licenses and spectrum allocated to nine companies, holding that the process of allocation was faulty. CBI had moved the High Court with its leave to appeal plea in March 2018, challenging the acquittal of all accused.
The plea challenging the acquittal of A Raja, Kanimozhi, and 15 others in the 2G spectrum allocation cases was heard for the first time on March 21, 2018. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) argued that the trial court judgment suffers from inconsistencies and asserted that there is no reason why the High Court should not hear the appeal.
Special CBI judge OP Saini, who delivered the 2G spectrum case judgment, expressed his frustration over the lack of evidence, stating that the case was primarily based on “rumour, gossip, and speculation.” He oversaw the trial of all 2G spectrum cases since early 2011. Saini’s remarks came in December 2017 when he said his seven-year wait for evidence ended “all in vain” as no legally admissible evidence was presented during the trial.
In his 1,552-page judgement, Saini lamented, “For the last about seven years, on all working days, summer vacation included, I religiously sat in the open court from 10 am to 5 pm, awaiting for someone with some legally admissible evidence in his possession but all in vain.”
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