After spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jail here, the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, was granted bail by a special CBI court on Tuesday.
Mr. Raja was arrested by the CBI on February 2, 2011 and he was in its custody till February 17. After that he has been in judicial custody.
Mr. Raja, who is the main accused in the case, is the last of the 12 accused to get bail. This was the first time since his arrest that he moved a bail application.
Rejecting the apprehension of the prosecution that he might influence witnesses or tamper with evidence, Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini said: “Almost the entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature and the same is in the custody of the court. In the end, considering the progress of the trial, the period of custody of the accused and the fact that all the other accused have been released on bail, I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose.”
The court granted bail on Mr. Raja furnishing a personal bond of Rs.20 lakh with two sureties for a like amount. Among the conditions that Mr. Saini imposed on him were that he should not visit Tamil Nadu or the Telecom Department without the court's permission.
The court also forbade him from “directly or indirectly making any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts as may be necessary to the court or to any other authority.”
Expressing satisfaction with the progress of the trial, the judge, in his order, also took a dig at the delaying tactics of some of the accused. “Prosecution evidence is being recorded and till date 42 witnesses, [with evidence] running into more than 1,600 pages have been recorded. I may note with satisfaction and also with a tinge of regret that a reasonably good amount of work has been done in the case in spite of stiff resistance put up by some of the accused at different stages of the case.”
As soon as Mr. Saini pronounced the order, the cramped courtroom rang with applause and Mr. Raja's supporters and DMK workers surrounded Mr. Raja. He was immediately whisked away to the court lock-up and released from jail late in the evening.
Mr. Raja's wife M.A. Parameswari and most of the co-accused were present when the order was passed. DMK leader T.R. Baalu and co-accused and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi arrived soon to congratulate him. Party workers celebrated by distributing sweets.
Keywords: 2G scam, Raja's bail
John Peter says that I got it wrong. No, I don't think so. I am not
defending Raja. Perhaps he might have been the main instrument used
by a person well known for his 'Behind the scene activities' to
further his own interests. The point is the CBI, a departmental wing
in the Ministry of Home Affairs has lost the thread that it picked up
in this case, for reasons best known to itself. Whether or not it
should get at the bottom of this case is in the hands of it's Chief.
In all probability, it may become another 'Bofor', now and then
showing up in our political drama to whip up some emotion. As to
Raja, he is just a piece in the Chess board.
Sir,
We always miss a important point. Investigation is serious on collecting evidences but judgement misses the goal called punishment . If there is no punishment let us not waste time in collecting evidence.
While Raja is released on bail why not we give mercy to Kasab and
subsequently release him.
It is odd that members of a particular community supposed to lack any merit has enough merit to plan and execute "India's biggest scam". It is intriguing that none in the cabinet was involved in the “biggest scam” and Raja alone was allowed to fill the sack and walk away. Raja, if found guilty could be sentenced to life imprisonment. And he will be, as every book will be thrown at him by Manmohan Singh to convince Indians his zeal for fighting corruption. The then finance minister has already made a deal with the opposition and has gone scot free. Enough evidence was secured to put away Bangaru Laxman, who is not even a government servant, for accepting one lakh rupees. A former dalit CJI was accused of misconduct for an incident that never took place. In the name of freedom of speech, a cartoon denigrating Dr Ambedkar is defended by our "intellectuals" being as pure as ganga jal.
T. Sathyamurthi has got it wrong. A.Raja could have applied for bail much eariler, but he willingly didn't do. Why ? , A.Raja knows best. CBI does shady job because the IPS officers come under our Home Minister who has been accused of being a partner in the crime. Now the entire case is being monitored by the Supreme Court. People like Subramanian Swamy & Prashant Bushan are keeping their eyes on the case. We do see progress in the right direction as for as 2G case is concerned.
It's a no brainer.. there was never a scam and everything was imaginary and played up by CAG and political parties. The only valid case against him is around the process of allocation and favoring specific companies for kickback & he needs to be tried for that. Only a douche will agree that there was ever a penny lost by exchequer let alone Rs. 176 lakh crores (35 Billion $). This is a classic case of villifying and hounding of media who they did not like to see in the union cabinet. The paid news mafia blew it out of proportion and illiterates bought it. Till now, I am yet to see a honest coverage of the case without making it sensational. No telecom company in India is ever capable of buying the 2G spectrum for $35Bn, if they buy you guys will have to pay the call rates that Americans & other western citizens are paying.
Can we move beyond the caste and class prejudice. I am really aghast at
the comments of Mr Hasan. Its not a matter of Dalit being negatively portrayed as a culprit. Its a matter of loot of public money by these
politicians. Whomsoever is misusing, abusing the power and the resources
of the country, is a national traitor. A corrupt is a corrupt, whether
he is from any caste, class or region. When A Raja was appointed as
Telecom Minister, what were your words for media and the govt Mr Hasan ?
We all know Raja got the courage and authority to effect such a massive scam from
the higher-ups. He just did what he was ordered to do by the big bosses and while carrying out the orders he pocketed a small portion, could be roughly 5K crores. Now Raja faces very big threat to his life as he has the potential to reveal their identity and their share in the loot. It's the responsibility of our PM to ensure A.Raja gets maximum security and this nation gets justice in 2G scam.
This is a case that has been built up not on a strong foundation of
real facts but on a hypothetical audit objection based on 'ifs' and
'buts' from the CAG. Though it all started with a bang and stunning
revelations to make it sensational among the public, it in now
petering out to yet another damp squib from the CBI. Months have
elapsed and the CBI could not get at the bottom to unearth the
supposedly looted money or nail any one as the culprit with concrete
proof. When all the 'Picked-Ups' are scotfree minding their own usual
business now, why one alone should be made to hold the unwanted baby
and kept behind bars? It looks that this case has been built up and
destroyed just for creating visual effects of fight against
corruption.
If we like it or not, until proven guilty, no one is a criminal. That is how judiciary works in all civilized societies. Raja might or might not have committed the crime; but has the right to a fair trial. What will be the outcome of that trial? We have patiently wait until the end of the process. If we do not have faith in the Indian judiciary, then that is different matter altogether.
Again my countrymen proved they are brainless. How can they wait outside
the jail to give a criminal a warm welcome? On what basis are they
supporting this traitor?
This is what happens in India , poor people though innocent remain in
jails for years for no crime done, and big people and ministers get out
of the jails like free birds though they have committed unprecedented
crimes. We have to look into the judiciary system of India where people
having power do not fear to commit any mistake.
It is congress culture to support the corrupt people. He made 1.76 lakh crore scam and now our judiciary is happy with his corruption & given bail. UPA governemnt protecting corrupt & it is disgrace to whole nation.
All boils down to the snail paced justice system in India. It is a wise move to come out else he will spend more than life sentence of 16 years and the case may still be going on.
It is ironical that the tamilnadu CM Jayalalitha is talking about this bail as the case is getting diluted. Madam - please set example by finishing off your own court cases first. No one will question you.
Sir will be on his 2nd innings of money laundering or what not. Made crores at the expense
of 15 months jail, nice deal ha...
It is amazing that the rich and the powerful get away with anything.
It is odd that a member of a particular community supposed to lack any merit has enough merit to plan and execute "India's biggest scam". It is intriguing that none in the cabinet was involved in the “biggest scam” and Raja alone was allowed to fill the sack and get away. Raja, if found guilty could be sentenced to life imprisonment. And he will be, as every book will be thrown at him by Manmohan Singh to convince his zeal for fighting corruption. The then finance minister has already made a deal with the opposition and has gone scot free. Enough evidence was secured to put away Bangaru Laxman, who is not even a government servant, for accepting one lakh rupees. A former dalit CJI was accused of misconduct for an incident that never took place. In the name of freedom of speech, a cartoon denigrating Dr Ambedkar is defended by our "intellectuals" being as pure as ganga jal. Is there any fair play in this country?
Yet again it is proved that in India you make any scam and walkout freely ….
Indian Constitution says “Truth shall always prevail” Wait continuous
It reminds me the case of Ex-Minister Jagajeevan Ram of Indira Gandhi time. He was questioned for duping Income-tax payment who simply wriggled out saying bluntly "I forgot to pay but these journalists are bent on punishing a Dalit like me" - The government took it as an enjoyable joke and declared him as innocent as newborn baby. The case ended in divided pizza. This is the repeat of the old story, a story of old wine in new bottle. As long as judiciary pace is slow and seeking for more details, the criminals with a label of Dalit occupying creamy layer of the society can get out of hard probed CBI work. Crime is a crime who ever commits that should in the prison and not on bail to enjoy homely meal and comfort. Criminal laws should be modified in accordance to the changing reality of crimes and criminals modus operandi.
It is widely believed that the loss caused by Raja to Exchequer in 2G is
more than a lakh crore. If that be true, the CBI should have established
evidences of amazement of wealth by Raja in this so called mother of all
scams. It is well known fact that Government kept CBI off its control in
this investigation. Though a free hand was given to CBI, after 15 months
of investigation CBI has not proved any amazement of wealth by Raja. I
wonder whether this so called mother of all scams is just a creation of
opposition and media.
One more let off..Hope DMK does not press center for a cabinet post for
him immediately. Wouldn't be surprised. Anything can happen in this
country
Why cannot he is tried in court of law and decided if he deserve to serve jail time? That will stop BJP and ADMK from questioning his bail. I am sure he would do anything to influence his case. He is capable of changing his witnesses in his favor.
Hurry up and bring him to court.
Bail is his right and decision comes from justice system. We cannot comment on why bail
has been granted, yes but CBI if feels can proceed to superior court for appeal.
Anyhow this minister will be free in few months and next time will do more good for India.
Jai bharat
At the rate the accused in scams are getting bail, and knowing fully
well that it will take years for the cases to be concluded; where the
guilty are not required to reimburse the looted money,what is to stop
such practices to be carried on by others.
another one of 1000000's cases that will die off eventually and one of 1000000's freely roaming alleged culprit in the country. What else can the common man expect?
Mr. Raja has was just waiting for an opportunity to get bail. The moment he comes out witness will be influenced and all documentary evidence will vanish. It just indicates how easily the Indian Judicial system can be manipulated.
this is democracy. only a waste of time and fooling the people .no news about the money looted . The C BI efforts all gone waste and the case will prolong ....god knows how long....
thanks to democracy......
JAI HIND
Finally he gets bail and this was on a day when the accused in BMW case walked in the court with bouncers and got a pre-arranged bail from court even before police could arrest him. Such was the brazen-ness shown by that accused that it puts the whole system to shame. On the contrast, A.Raja's is a classic case where he alone has been presumed and branded guilty as soon as he was arrested. In his case, the normal rights of the accused have been completely sidelined and completely new rules formulated by the judges under pressure from a rampaging media which most of the times has been unkind to him. Nobody denies the necessity of law taking its own course but this culture of media-jury is not doing any good to the already corrupted and insanely slow justice system. Law must takes its own course and give every accused a fair & just opportunity.
Why people are bringing unrelated cast issue here. Whethe Dalit or Brahmin cheating is cheating.
When the policy was to sell the spectrum for fixed fee, how can a loss be assumed. The CAG manufactured a loss that never existed. The loss would be real only if there was a policy for auction existed. That does not absolve Mr.Raja from any misdeeds by favouring companies in allocating spectrum either by advancing or delaying deadlines for spectrum applications. My point is, Mr. Raja seems to have had some underhand dealing in allocating spectrum for which he needs to be tried. But he is not responsible for the presumptive loss of 178 lakh crores, its a bull crap fed to media by the CAG. Lets see how much the TRAI can muster from the revised 2G auctions. If the auction of 12 cancelled licenses fetch less than 178 lakh crores, I think Raja should be filing libel case against the CAG.
Backward people are always harressed. Whether it is Madhu Koda, Mayawati, Raja, Laloo or Mulayam. All are harrassed as they are backward. No one wants them to rise to power. The upper caste people will not allow them to work. Whenever they do some work, the upper caste people will post some charges against them.
Mr Raja for the past 15 months as guest of the state enjoyed the hospitality of the nation.Does CBI has a cast iron case against him? Is the court ready to prosecute him/let him go? Was he the real culprit or a patsy? The nation needs to know. If a elected representative of the people can be kept in judiial custody for 15 months imagine the plight of the common man if he falls victim to the Law enforcement in the country,
Let us hope to God that justice prevails in this country ruled by a biased and pro elitist media.
Rs.1,76,000crore is an imaginary amount of loss, but not misused by anyone. The media and some politicians have misrepresented the whole episode for their political benifit. The CAG has said that if 2G spectrum was auctioned like 3G (a better spectrum) , it(2G)would have fetched 1,76000 crores. It is just like saying that if an ordinary car is sold at the rate of a luxury car, it would fetch a big profit. Nobody swallowed it or misused it; it is imaginary number of CAG. Where did that money go then? People of India got cheap calls and got all the benefit like subsidy. It was NDA policy followed by UPA.A good policy which helped revolution in communication, and even a coolie could buy a mobile and use it. But Raja misused his power and allotted the 2G spectrum to a few companies by manipulating the procedure of allotment ; Wrote arrogant letter to PM against changing the policy. But corruption or kickback, for illegally favouring a few companies is yet to be found out and proved!
I agree with Mr. M A HASAN.
Being a citizen of India, we strongly oppose the bail given to the biggest looter of India either he belongs to a Dalit community or a General community. No community of India have right to do scam worth lakh crores of rupees on the cost of poor people of India. In India crore of people are living below 32 rupees a day. And these politicians are looting the nation and depositing the looted money in swiss Bank. It is the lacuna of our law, the people like A Raja got bail and free to loot this country once again. It is shameful for our country people divided in the general, dalits, muslims, hindus, christians etc. and on the basis of this division allowing these ministers and bureaucrats to loot the nation. We the people should realise this and should not be allowed them to loot our beloved nation. People of India should prepare themselves to be ready for one more 2G scam in incoming auction in JULY -AUG 2012. Salute to master mind of looting this nation and his party and congress itself
At last law and democracy failed its potential against corrupted politicians. Every people in 2g case got bail....
I agree with you Mr Hasan. It is obvious to any average citizen that Mr Raja alone could not have indulged in this massive 2G scam. Others involved in this scam and the media all belonging to various high castes in our society have brought this on him. Of course, he also is partly responsible for whatever happened to him. It should serve as a lesson to all the low caste citizens of this country that in order to survive and succeed in higher echleons of office, they have to have impeccable moral standards and absolute probity in their office. And always remember that great icon Dr B R Ambedkar.
Mr Raja takes the blame for just implementing the Telecom Policy of his predecessors. Undoubtedly, media rage & vested interests played havoc. Amidst unfounded alleagations, it could not be established that money played a role. If all scarce resources are to be auctioned then even water needs to be up for bidding. The Policy implementation, resulted in the common man's reach to mobile telephony. This would indeed change if the directives in auctioning are implemented - time will tell. A level playing field was obviously not granted to Mr Raja. If Mr Raja is to be accused, so also are his predecessors equally guilty.
The farce of investigation and bringing to book is being played out on expected lines - the loot accrues and stays with the super-rich and those in power. The law and courts are made laughing stocks by such netas and the likes of Kasab. It is easy to hound and mete out punishment to innocent or poor people but not so to netas and the rich who thrive on each other and who tread heartlessly on the lives of millions of ordinary citizens.
As long as Indians are conscious about their caste whether a dalit or non-dalit and religion whether a minority or a majority, Indians really don't deserve the development and corrupt-free society.
Neither Raja nor Behuria nor any of the persons arrested had anything to do with 2G Scam. They were only scapegoats. It is unfortunate that Raja , Kani and others were arrested merely on basis of sucpicion of involvement with 2G scam. Ultimately Truth will triumph and all those arrested are free now. In any case, in 1-2 yrs time 2G scam will be forgotten as was the case with many others like Telgi scam, Harshad Mehta Scam , Bofors scam etc...Jai Hind !
It is shocking to note that Mr. A. Raja, who received Rs 200 crore as bribe, was granted bail on the ground of parity even when the CBI itself claimed that the charges levelled against him were of serious nature. A person who was supposed to be punished for life was granted bail on flimsy grounds. The accused is sure to influence the witnesses no matter what conditions and restrictions were imposed on him. Cases such as these surely weaken the public’s faith in the CBI and the judiciary.
Sir,
The arrest of A Raja was supposed to mark the beginning of a great investigation and the scam was firmly believed to be a conspiracy hatched by many with Raja being the face of it. In all fairness to judiciary, detention of an accused in jail beyond need is denial of justice to the accused. But in the 15 months since Raja's arrest, nobody above him has not even been questioned in this mother-of-all-scams, which is highly demotivating considering the fact that this case is monitored by the supreme court.
Wah, fate of Raja will be sealed too just like Jayalalitha who enjoys power or like Congress Leader Karunakaran who enjoyed freedom till his death and corruption case running at Kerala High Court !
3000 crore for 15 months jail was not a bad deal after all. Congratulations to congress and Hats off to Raja.
Poor Raja... He was quite safe at least inside the jail...
Oh Lord! send some more looters. We want to be looted adinfinitum. A
Raja is not sufficient. Our constitution allows its citizens to loot.
Please listen me Muhammad.
Cent percent true, thank you M A Hasan for the comment.
Cent percent true, thank you M A Hasan for the comment.
A few months ago, Mr.A.Raja swore that he would NOT apply for bail until his name was cleared and he was declared innocent. Now, he goes and gets bail claiming others in the scam had got bail. So, has he been declared innocent as a baby?
it was pre plan that a raja will get bail but take some time to getting bail. because raja is not only person who is involve in this case. many big fish is involve in this case.
Now that Raja is out of the jail, he needs to be protected as otherwise, he will also vanish from us like Batcha, his trusted protege.
So here is the Indian Law. Giving Bail (more precisely a chance to destroy all the evidence) to someone who looted our country even more than British.
Wow!!!! How easy it is to get bail...
Now this case will go on for another 50 or so years...by that time everything will be forgotten...
Judiciary is harsh on petty criminals and very liberal on professional criminals!! How to trust this judiciary?
If we are talking for 10Ps/Min, it is because of Raja's decision of not auctioning the spectrum. If we say Raja is wrong then we should be ready to pay Rs. 3/call and Rs. 1/incoming call. Are you ready. I am not. That is the matter.
Elated,A Raja too gets bail,its a story of a Dalit tortured,defamed and
made national traitor by biased media,which misses no time in doing the
same.Everybody ate at the cost of a dalit.I am sure many wise men and
fools will disagree.
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