A court here on Tuesday remanded A. Raja to two more days of CBI custody though the investigating agency had sought four days' custody of the former Telecommunication Minister accused of corruption in the allocation of 2G spectrum and award of licences.
Mr. Raja's former aides — his private secretary R.K. Chandolia and the former Telecom Secretary, Siddhartha Behura — were remanded to 14-day judicial custody after the investigating agency told Special Judge (CBI) O.P. Saini that police custody of the duo was no longer needed.
Special Public Prosecutor Akhilesh told the court that some more documents were to be recovered and that Mr. Raja was required to be confronted with the other suspects and witnesses. The CBI's remand application for Mr. Raja stated that the former Minister was evading questions, that further custody of Mr. Raja was required to uncover the “money trail,” and that there was a likelihood of him tampering with the evidence as he was “highly influential.”
Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Mr. Raja, took exception to the CBI remand application, which did not contain specific details regarding what interrogation of Mr. Raja achieved. CBI counsel responded that the information could not be furnished in open court and invited the judge to peruse the case diary of the investigation, which had been submitted along with the remand application.
Mr. Gupta said the CBI had not managed to get any disclosure statement from Mr. Raja in the six days it had him in custody and as such further custody of Mr. Raja was unnecessary.
In his order, Mr. Saini noted: “It is a complex case based on documents and, at the relevant time, the accused A. Raja was the Minister in charge of the department. Accordingly, considering the submissions of both parties and material on record, accused A. Raja is remanded to police custody till February 10.” Mr. Raja, Mr. Chandolia and Mr. Behura were remanded to five-day CBI custody last Thursday. Mr. Behura's lawyer S.S. Gandhi, while claiming his client was innocent, did not oppose the CBI's prayer for police remand then. Mr. Saini, in his order on February 3, noted that Mr. Behura “had indicated he is ready and willing to disclose everything before the investigating agency.”
A number of Mr. Raja's supporters, including DMK party men and lawyers from Tamil Nadu, were present at the Patiala House court on Tuesday. They said they had come to offer “moral support” to their leader.
