2G: Clean chit for Mahajan, ex-telecom secy Shyamal Ghosh

An attempt to drag previous NDA regime in 2G telecom scam was trashed by a special court on Thursday which said CBI failed to establish that the then telecom minister Pramod Mahajan and then secretary Shyamal Ghosh were in a conspiracy to favour private players in additional spectrum allocation in 2002.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini said both Mahajan and Ghosh were having different <g data-gr-id="42">view points</g> on the issue of allocation of additional spectrum and it was evident from the evidence brought on record. The court said that as per evidence brought by CBI, while the Mahajan had favoured allocation of additional spectrum, the then secretary had differed. Mahajan was the Telecom Minister from September 1, <g data-gr-id="46">2001</g> to January 28, <g data-gr-id="47">2003</g> during the erstwhile NDA regime.

“Now the question is when the secretary and the minister were differing on every point, how can they be conspirators? Moreover, Shyamal Ghosh was not in favour of allocating additional spectrum to the existing operators at least from March 9, <g data-gr-id="45">2001</g> when the letter was sent to COAI declining additional spectrum and thereafter, at every step, he was resisting it…,” the court said while discharging Ghosh and the three telecom firms in the case.

It also noted that additional spectrum issue was discussed in detail by the minister in the department with the relevant authorities and need for additional spectrum to the existing operators was recognized and a decision in that regard was taken.

Coming down heavily on CBI, the court said that CBI had “deliberately” not produced many relevant documents before it only to indicate that demand for additional spectrum started only after late Pramod Mahajan had joined as the telecom minister 

in 2001.

“The conclusion of the aforesaid analysis of the events, evidence, documents and <g data-gr-id="36">other</g> material on record is that the charge sheet is a distorted and fabricated document, based on deliberately redacted and garbled facts,” the court said.

The court said that the charge sheet was drafted in a manner to create an impression that a grave crime was committed, whereas there was none and there was “no incriminating material on record” against the accused.

Special CBI judge also noted in his 235-page order that the charge sheet was filed for “extraneous reasons” and directed the CBI director to conduct an inquiry against the erring officials and take action against them as per law.

In its charge sheet filed on December 21, 2012, CBI had refrained from mentioning Mahajan’s name as accused. The agency, in its 57-page charge sheet, had said the decision regarding allocation of additional spectrum to these telecom firms was taken in “undue haste” in pursuance to the conspiracy hatched amongst Mahajan, Ghosh and these 

companies.

Detailing the roles of accused named in the charge sheet, the CBI had said Ghosh in conspiracy with Mahajan and telecom firms, abused his official position to show undue favour to the companies causing a loss of Rs 846.44 crore to the exchequer.