After a month of protest against commencement of trial, former Telecom Minister A Raja on Thursday opened his defence with the cross-examination of key Central Bureau of Investigation witness Aseervatham Achary, who was his former additional private secretary.
Former telecom minister A Raja, who has so far not cross-examined any witness in the 2G case trial, is likely to open his defence next week by questioning his former additional private secretary Aseervatham Achary, a prosecution witness, sources said.
A Raja, former telecom minister and the key accused in the 2G scam, on Friday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation in a Delhi court of making his ex-aide Aseervatham Achary a "false witness" to depose against him. "He is a created false witness and this is my ultimate case," senior advocate Sushil Kumar, who is defending Raja, contended before Special CBI Judge O P Saini.
R K Chandolia, former private secretary to A Raja, on Friday told a Delhi court that he was only following the instructions of the minister and instead of him, the Central Bureau of Investigation should implead Tata and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia as accused in the 2G spectrum case.
The big question is: Will her release be a threat to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami? The answer is, while it may give him moments of nervousness, he will not be replaced, say political experts. T E Narasimhan reports.
Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are centred on chief ministerial candidates of rival parties. When Sasikala cannot contest even a panchayat election for six years after her release, even if she were to have sympathetic backers even among apolitical voters, she does not have any 'transferrable vote-bank' even otherwise for a chief minister candidate of her choice, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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