SC to decide Chidambaram's fate today

The suspense over Home Minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G scam is likely to be over by Saturday when a Delhi court would decide the plea of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy to make him an accused in the case.

With the Supreme Court leaving the issue to be decided by the trial court, the ball is now now in the court of Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge O P Saini, who has reserved orders in the case for Saturday.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, which asked the lower court not to get influenced by its decision, had also refused to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to "investigate Chidambaram".

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The apex court, which came down heavily on Raja and cancelled 122 2G licenses, however, did not find any fault on the part of the Prime Minister and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The special judge, on January 21, had reserved the order for tomorrow on the plea of Swamy who alleged that Chidambaram was equally culpable like former Telecom Minister A Raja as he also had a role in deciding the spectrum pricing and allowing telecom companies to off-load shares to foreign firms.

The court, on February 1, also halted for two days the ongoing day-to-day trial in the case for writing the much-awaited order on Swamy's plea against Chidambaram.

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Swamy, who concluded arguments in the trial court in support of his plea, had said the evidence brought on record, prima facie established that Chidambaram was also culpable like Raja in the case.

The evidence, brought before the court, was sufficient to show that Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, has prima facie committed offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other criminal laws, he said.