2G case: Delhi court summons Sunil Mittal, others as accused
20 March 2013 7:07 AM IST
A special CBI court, trying the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Tuesday issued summons to Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia and five others as accused after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a case for allocation of excess spectrum during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime in 2002. The court also summoned former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and corporate honcho Asim Ghosh besides the three telecom companies -- Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt Ltd (now known as Vodafone India Ltd) and Sterling Cellular Ltd (now known as Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd).
The court said there are incriminating material on record to proceed against the accused persons. It said that Sunil Mittal was CMD of Bharti Cellular Ltd, Asim Ghosh was MD of Hutchison Max and Ravi Ruia a director in Sterling Cellular and they were all prima facie in control of affairs of the respective companies.
The court had earlier pulled up the CBI for only blaming government servants and not naming any company officials in the charge sheet. The CBI had made Shyamal Ghosh and the three telecom firms accused for the offences of criminal conspiracy (120-B) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI chargesheet did not name any individual executives.
The court said they represented the directing mind and will of companies and their state of mind was that of the companies and ‘they are/were ‘alter-ego’ of their respective companies.’
‘In this fact/situation, the acts of the companies are to be attributed and imputed to them. Consequently, I find enough material on record to proceed against them also,’ said said Judge OP Saini and issued summons. ‘Accordingly, I take cognisance of the case. Issue summons to all seven accused for 11 April,’ he said.
The court said there are incriminating material on record to proceed against the accused persons. It said that Sunil Mittal was CMD of Bharti Cellular Ltd, Asim Ghosh was MD of Hutchison Max and Ravi Ruia a director in Sterling Cellular and they were all prima facie in control of affairs of the respective companies.
The court had earlier pulled up the CBI for only blaming government servants and not naming any company officials in the charge sheet. The CBI had made Shyamal Ghosh and the three telecom firms accused for the offences of criminal conspiracy (120-B) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI chargesheet did not name any individual executives.
The court said they represented the directing mind and will of companies and their state of mind was that of the companies and ‘they are/were ‘alter-ego’ of their respective companies.’
‘In this fact/situation, the acts of the companies are to be attributed and imputed to them. Consequently, I find enough material on record to proceed against them also,’ said said Judge OP Saini and issued summons. ‘Accordingly, I take cognisance of the case. Issue summons to all seven accused for 11 April,’ he said.
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