R.K. Chandolia, ex-private secretary of the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, on Saturday told the special court hearing the 2G spectrum scam that the Central Bureau of Investigation had put pressure on prosecution witnesses to depose against him after his arrest, as the investigating agency had no material to prosecute him.
“My [Mr. Chandolia's] arrest on February 2 this year was illegal because at that point of time no prosecution witnesses had deposed against me. The CBI, in a bid to frame me [Mr. Chandolia], put pressure on them to name me as accused,” counsel Vijay Agarwal said.
In this respect, counsel pointed out that telecom official R.P. Aggarwal had not named Mr. Chandolia in his statements recorded before February 2 and that this reflected the motive of the investigating agency.
“When Mr. Aggarwal's statement was recorded in March, my name surfaced. Why have they arrested me in February when all the incriminating statements were recorded in March.”
Counsel claimed that the CBI's allegation of Mr. Chandolia conspiring with Mr. Raja to award spectrum in the “lucrative” Delhi circle to Swan Telecom was unfounded, as the Delhi circle was not as “magical” as the CBI made it out to be.
“What is so magical about the Delhi circle? The whole charge sheet says that [Mr.] Chandolia favoured Swan Telecom for the Delhi circle, but the fact is Delhi was placed fifth in terms of revenue generation. The whole case is based on falsehood.”
Mr. Chandolia's lawyer also charged that Datacom was the telecom company to benefit the most as it secured 21 licences after complying with the Letters of Intent (LoI) issued on January 10, 2008.
