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'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to form its government in Delhi after winning the recent assembly elections. Party leaders have stated that the new chief minister should be chosen from the elected BJP MLAs, with several contenders emerging from the newly-elected members. The decision on the next chief minister is expected to be made after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his foreign visit around February 15.
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.
A Central Bureau of Investigation officer, who was part of the probe team investigating the 2G spectrum scam, on Thursday denied in a Delhi court that A Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia was falsely implicated in the case as he had refused to depose against the former telecom minister.
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 on Friday stayed the grant of bail to former telecom minister A Raja's ex-private secretary R K Chandolia, an accused in the 2G case.
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.
The air hung heavy with grief as an Indian Air Force aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 14 of the 45 Indians who died in a devastating fire at a building in Kuwait landed at Delhi's Palam technical area from Kerala's Kochi on Friday evening.
The pictures and videos of the locals wading through waist deep water in Bawana JJ colony area, waterlogged houses, school and hospital went viral on social media even as teams of engineers from Haryana and Delhi worked on a war footing to plug the breach.
Carrying bottles of dirty water, the BJP protesters raised slogans against the AAP government and smashed 'matkas' (earthen pitchers) as a mark of protest over water scarcity in the national capital.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday named 72 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anurag Singh Thakur, and former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
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.
Among the eight secretaries are Bansuri Swaraj, former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana's son Harish Khurana and Imprit Singh Bakshi.
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.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the parties shall file brief written submissions not exceeding five pages.
More than 100 senior leaders and functionaries have been deployed to work as district in-charges in 44 assembly segments in Western Uttar Pradesh to coordinate and streamline campaigning and booth management, BJP leaders in New Delhi said.
The Enforcement Directorate has questioned former Telecom Minister A Raja's close aide R K Chandolia in connection with the alleged 2G spectrum scam and indicated that more officials are under its scanner. Official sources said Chandolia, who served as the personal secretary to Raja at the time of the controversial spectrum allocation in 2008, was questioned for seven hours by the ED on Thursday.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja's erstwhile Private Secretary R K Chandolia was today imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 by the Delhi high court for making a plea to it to summon a plethora of documents from the P)rime Minister's Office to help him cross-examine a 2G case witness in the trial court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday opposed the bail plea of former Telecom Minister A Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, saying that he is a public servant and cannot be treated on par with those granted bail in the 2G case.
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.
A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail plea of Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa and former telecom minister A Raja's secretary R K Chandolia in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, saying they are "high ranking public servants" and may tamper with the probe. In not granting the relief, the judge also took into account the "initial stage of the investigation and other facts and circumstances of the case."
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.
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:
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.
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.
Confusion prevailed over Anna Hazare's protest plans on Monday with a prominent Municipal Corporation of Delhi functionary saying that the civic body has not given permission for the agitation at Ramlila Maidan even as Team Anna insisted that they have got the nod.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja's private secretary R K Chandolia had threatened several senior telecom ministry officials to ensure grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom which was ineligible for getting the spectrum licence, Central Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday in its chargesheet on 2G scam.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja had "misled" then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding policy of first-come-first-served which was to be followed for allocation of 2G spectrum, Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday told a special court.
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.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday moved a designated special court for slapping the fresh charge of breach of trust by public servants against former Telecom Minister A Raja and two others in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it had seized "incriminating" documents during searches at 14 places, including former telecom minister A Raja's residence, in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum 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
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.
The Central Bureau of Investigation will seek an extension of former telecom minister A Raja's remand, according to a top official of the agency. Raja was arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum scam last week along with his aides R K Chandolia and Siddarth Behura. Raja is scheduled to appear before the CBI court in Patiala house on Tuesday at the end of his five-day custody. The investigating officers said that they have been able to make considerable progress.