Buoyed by bail granted to five corporate executives by the Supreme Court in 2G spectrum case, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa and ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja’s former private secretary R.K. Chandolia have moved bail pleas before a Delhi court.
Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini would hear the arguments on the separate bail pleas of both the accused on November 27, 2011.
Both the accused have moved the application on the ground that after framing of charges, the trial in the case is expected to take considerable time and they should be granted bail as they are similarly placed with the co-accused who were released on bail by the Supreme Court, their counsel Vijay Aggarwal said.
“We have moved bail pleas for R.K. Chandolia and Shahid Balwa. The Supreme Court has already granted bail to five accused and as the trial is expected to take a long time, we have sought bail on the ground of parity,” Mr. Aggarwal said.
The Supreme Court had granted bail to Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surendra Pipara.
The bail pleas of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and four others are pending before the Delhi High Court.
Mr. Raja is the only accused who has not approached any court for grant of bail since his arrest on February 2, 2011.