According to the verdict of the special court in the 2G case, the CBI’s main charge that former Telecom Minister A. Raja was paid a ₹200 crore bribe by Shahid Balwa in lieu of allotment of spectrum to his company fell flat during the trial because the prosecution examined, cross-examined and re-examined the witnesses in a casual manner.
“The end result is that prosecution failed to put its case to the witnesses indicating that it gave up its case during examination of witnesses itself,’’ special judge O.P. Saini said.
Most revealing is the cross-examination of Mr. Raja. “It is a matter of great importance that Sh. A. Raja took huge risk in appearing as a witness in his own defence and had given a good opportunity to the prosecution to grill him , but only two general suggestions were put to him,” Justice Saini said.
Terse examination
“The prosecution introduced the word quid pro quo for the first time in the cross-examination of Sh. A. Raja. In the entire prosecution evidence, it was nowhere suggested to any witness that the transfer of ₹200 crore was an illegal gratification and that the four entities had concealed its identity to give it a colour of regular business transaction. The terse or if I may say so, NIL cross-examination by the prosecution of Sh. A. Raja indicates that it had no worthwhile evidence against him... ,” Justice Saini stated.
“The nature of cross-examination of Sh. A. Raja on this point is indicative of total lack of evidence against him. Hence, there is no merit in the submission of the prosecution that Sh. A. Raja was involved in parking of money in Kalaignar TV (P) Limited,” the judge stated.
