A day after being served with notice by the Supreme Court on the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam, Union Communications and IT Minister A. Raja on Tuesday said the entire controversy was “politically motivated” with some vested interests maligning the Centre and tarnishing his image.
“No doubt the controversy is politically motivated…vested interests are behind the move. It is a result of the corporate war in the telecom space…I broke the cartel, which benefited consumers, and now I am being targeted for it,” Mr. Raja said after inaugurating the curtain-raiser ceremony of ‘India Telecom 2010,' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Centre and Mr. Raja on a special leave petition seeking a thorough investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation scam of 2008, which cost the exchequer an estimated loss of Rs.70,000 crore. The Bench sought the reply from the respondents in 10 days and directed the matter to be listed thereafter.
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The court had wondered how the CBI could file an FIR without disclosing the names of the accused, and asked how the agency, which was conducting the probe, did not know against whom the probe was proceeding and why it was so uncertain about the charges.