The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on the bail plea of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam involving former Union Minister A Raja.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday informed the Delhi high court that its appeal against the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja and 16 others in the 2G spectrum allocation case was 'ripe for hearing'.
Former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam along with former telecom minister A Raja on February 2, was denied bail by the Delhi high court on Friday.
Two days after getting bail from the Supreme Court in the 2G case, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura was on Friday released from the Tihar jail after a lapse of over 15 months since his arrest.
The court, in its 167-page order, also noted that the possibility of witnesses being influenced by the accused could not be ruled out if he is released on bail.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave bail to former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, arrested last year on February 2 for his alleged role in the 2G case, and also upheld the bail granted to former Telecom Minister A Raja's ex-Private Secretary R K Chandolia by the trial court.
The Delhi high court will pronounce its verdict on Friday on whether to admit the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) appeal challenging the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja, firms and others in the 2G spectrum allocation 'scam' case.
Admitting the Central Bureau of Investigation appeal, the high court said there are "some contradictions" in the trial court's judgment which require "deeper examination".
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began making submissions on Monday on its appeal before the Delhi high court challenging the acquittal of accused persons, including former telecom minister A Raja, and firms in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in December 2017.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the parties shall file brief written submissions not exceeding five pages.
The CBI contended before the Delhi high court on Tuesday that there were glaring illegalities in the trial court judgment that acquitted former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on Friday moved the Delhi high court challenging the framing of charges against him in 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
A Delhi court on Friday reserved its order on the bail plea of former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in 2G spectrum scam case, who countered the conspiracy charge against him by saying he was implementing a policy backed by the Prime minister.
Justice Brijesh Sethi held that the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to Section 13 (1)(d) would not come to the rescue of the acquitted accused in this appeal.
Department of telecommunication and intelligence agencies have long been demanding access to data on Blackberry phones, which is available only to the owners of the handset. RIM executives had met senior DoT officials recently.
The high court's order came on a plea by acquitted individual and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd director Asif Balwa that the CBI has not placed on record the mandatory authority under the provisions of the CrPC.
In a setback to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi and seven others, a Delhi court on Thursday dismissed their bail pleas in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, on Tuesday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation in a Delhi court of discriminating among various accused in the case by not opposing their bail pleas for political considerations.
The special court hearing the 2G case on Monday reserved the bail order for the 17 accused in the case, including Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, till November 3.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday contested the claims of former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura over a December, 2007, meeting held regarding entry fees for 2G licences, in which he had said the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former Finance Secretary D Subbarao were present.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday told a Delhi court that it would not oppose the bail plea of Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa in the 2G case keeping in view the Supreme Court and High Court orders granting bail to other co-accused in the case.
The Delhi high court will hear on Friday bail pleas of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi and five other accused in the 2G case, advancing the hearing of their petitions from December one.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court for bail saying the case against him is "false and fabricated".
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday afternoon arrested tainted former Union telecom minister A Raja, his brother A K Perumal, along with his aide R K Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behuria in connection with the 2G Spectrum scam.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja, the prime accused facing trial in the 2G case, on Thursday completed one year in jail since his arrest in the high-profile scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed a charge-sheet in the Rs 176,000 crore 2G scam in the designated CBI court in Delhi.The chargesheet has named former telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja as the main conspirator. The chargesheet alleged that Raja misused his ministerial position to favour one particular group. Sidhardh Behura and R K Chandolia -- both bureaucrats who served as secretaries to A Raja -- were also named as conspirators in the charge-sheet
After 10 months in jail, former bureaucrat R K Chandolia, an accused in the 2G case, was on Thursday granted bail by a Delhi court which said that his case "cannot be equated" with that of former Telecom Minister A Raja and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, now the only two accused still behind bars.
A Delhi court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to interrogate former telecom minister A Raja and two other accused in the 2G case in the Patiala House court complex.
O P Saini, special judge of the designated Central Bureau of Investigation court in Patiala House, New Delhi, remanded former telecom minister A Raja, his aide R K Chandolia and former telecom secretary S Behura to five days custody as demanded by the investigative agency after one hour legal battle between Akhilesh, CBI's senior public prosecutor, and Ramesh Gupta advocate both for Raja and Chandolia.
Former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, currently in jail in connection with the 2G scam, on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that the 'so called' gigantic loss of Rs 30,984 crore (Rs 309.84 billion) to the state in spectrum allocation was caused due to the government policy and not because of the alleged acts of the accused.
Former telecom minister A Raja, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, will be produced before the CBI court at Patiala house on Thursday afternoon.Two of Raja's key aides -- S Behura and R K Chandolia -- were also arrested by the CBI on Wednesday. According to CBI officials, the agency has enough evidence against Raja and others in the spectrum scandal. The CBI is expected to seek custody of Raja.
The move would allow mobile operators with relatively less number of subscribers to share spectrum with other players.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate's pleas seeking an early hearing into the appeals challenging the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
After a long wait, Tata Teleservices on Thursday launched the premium Blackberry mobile services that offers customers e-mail, SMS messaging and Internet-based applications.
The government said on Monday that it will soon come out with a uniform and single licence fee for telecom service provider, which is currently between 6 and 10 per cent of the revenue of these companies.
"Within a week, DoT will invite bids for selecting an agency for implementing MNP. We will select the agency within next three months," Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura said on Thursday, on the sidelines of a function by Assocham. Earlier, the government had said that MNP can be started by the end of this year.
The government had constituted a group of ministers early this month to decide on the issue of pricing of 3G spectrum auction. The GoM would also look into the number of players in 3G mobile services in a circle. The GoM is yet to come out with clarifications on pricing of 3G spectrum.
Ahead of the 3G spectrum allocation process, the government would invite request for proposals for rolling out mobile number portability. Government had recently announced the guidelines for 3G spectrum and MNP, and had allowed foreign players to take part in the next generation telecom space.
A special court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. The scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Here is a detailed timeline of how the case came to light and how it has progressed over the years: