Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani will have to appear as a prosecution witness on Thursday before the special court trying a 2G spectrum allocation case, with the dismissal of a plea seeking deferment of his scheduled deposition and a petition challenging the summoning of additional witnesses still pending in the Supreme Court.
Holding that no prejudice would be caused to any accused by the deposition of Mr. Ambani and his wife Tina, the special court dismissed Reliance Telecom Limited’s plea for postponement of examination of the two additional witnesses.
“Furthermore, the witness for tomorrow [Anil Ambani] has already been served and an accommodation was granted to him earlier also when he was summoned for July 26. At that time also, the accused [company] had not stated that examination of these witnesses would cause prejudice to it… I see no reason how any prejudice would be caused to the accused, if these witnesses are examined now,” said CBI Judge O.P. Saini.
Also, the court said, no prayer for postponement of the examination had been made by Mr. Ambani or his wife.
Earlier on Wednesday, in a bid to get interim relief exempting Mr. Ambani from appearance on Thursday, Reliance Telecom made an oral submission before the Supreme Court, which, however, said the plea would be considered after the petitions seeking recall of two of its previous orders barring any High Court from hearing 2G cases were decided.
The CBI Judge said the application for exemption from personal appearance had been moved by an accused, and not by any witness. “Accordingly, I find no merit in the application.” While Mr. Ambani has been summoned for Thursday, Ms. Ambani is scheduled to appear on Friday for recording of statements. On her plea for exemption from personal appearance on the grounds of prior commitment, the CBI counsel left it to the court to take an appropriate view.
