A key 2G case witness and ex-aide of A Raja on Monday told a Delhi court that the former telecom minister was in touch with Swan Telecom promoters, Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra and had cleared their projects during his stint with ministry of environment and forests in 2004-07.
The CBI approached Shourie last week asking him to appear before the agency in connection with the Preliminary Enquiry registered by the agency following a direction from the Supreme Court.
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.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday questioned former Telecom Minister A Raja for the fourth time in connection with the funding and allegedly showing favours to some telecom companies in granting 2G spectrum between October 2007 and 2008.
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.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN channel's Devil's Advocate programme, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia explains why he faults the controversial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 2G telecom spectrum allocation. Edited excerpts:
Questioning the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand, former telecom minister Arun Shourie on Saturday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be allowed to make a statement on coal blocks allocation controversy and said the opposition did not gain much by stalling the Parliament over the issue.
Justice Ruma Pal is to be saluted for her courageous dissent of conviction and reminding her peers that they need to put themselves on self-trial. The alternative is for India to sink further into the cesspool of even greater corruption, says C Uday Bhaskar.
Former telecom minister A Raja will appear on December 24 before officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum to certain telecom firms. CBI officials have sent a notice under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code to Raja to appear before the investigating agency for questioning in the case. "I will cooperate with the investigating agency," Raja told reporters.
In a crackdown as part of the 2G spectrum scam probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday searched 34 offices and residences of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradip Baijal, siblings of ex-Telecom Minister A Raja and an NGO linked to Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi.
It will help to lower their costs by 7-8 per cent.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Monday commenced the process of recording the statement of Dayalu Ammal, wife of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi, in the 2G Spectrum case.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist may support the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the allegations of corruption against former telecom minister A Raja."We are of the view the government must agree to the Opposition's demand for holding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the telecom scam. If that cannot be done, than the govt must come up with an alternative mechanism to unearth the truth," said a CPM leader.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Tuesday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation in a Delhi court of willfully not filing on record the documents of telecom regulator TRAI in 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
According to sources, spectrum was available in the range of 50-60 MHz in nine states and was sufficient to accommodate all the new players as well as demand from the existing operators. However, in some important circles like Delhi, only one of the new players could get initial spectrum. Some of the existing players have objected to the move, saying allocation of spectrum at this juncture would be illegal as the matter is subjudice.
Says no evidence yet to incriminate Maran for coercion in Aircel-Maxis deal.
Huawei came under a cloud after allegations that the firm's electronic and telecom devices helped China spy on US corporations and agencies.
All the accused, including the three telecom firms and their promoters, proprietors and top executives, moved the court of Special CBI Judge O P Saini seeking direction to the investigating agency to file the TRAI report, which has said there was no loss to the exchequer in allocation of 2G spectrum.
The government has washed its hands off rising onion prices with Union ministers not sounding too sympathetic.
"I requested the operators, the termination charge can come down by 2010 and accordingly tariffs can be reduced," the minister told reporters after meeting with CEOs of telecom companies in New Delhi.
An over 80,000 page first chargesheet with annexures will be filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday in the 2G spectrum scam case against former Telecom Minister A Raja, some of his close aides and a couple of real estate companies for allegedly defrauding the exchequer and entering into a criminal conspiracy for securing telecom licenses.
The government on Thursday said it has directed Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd to monitor illegal international calls through its Nepal subsidiary.
Offering lucrative incentives, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday invited US technology companies to start manufacturing in India, for meeting domestic needs and exports, under the 'Make In India' initiative.
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."
A three-judge bench headed sought CCBI's response on Maran's plea and questioned its decision to arrest him.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja was sent to CBI remand for three more days by a Delhi court which also extended the custody of Swan telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa for four days in the 2G spectrum case after the CBI said it wanted to confront them on the money trail.
The users of 5G-enabled Apple iPhones will be able to try 5G telecom services - wherever available publicly in the country - from next week, both on standalone (Reliance Jio) and non-standalone networks (Bharti Airtel). Airtel and Jio customers who download the iOS 16 Beta software update as part of its 'Apple Beta Software Program' can try the service and send their feedback to the company. The final updated software will become available sometime in December.
"Mobiles have the potential to be more effective than TV, PC, outdoor or digital displays, as it has the ability to influence the consumer at the last mile of transaction. It is observed that a person on a single day remains exposed to one screen more as compared to any other, and that is their mobile phones," says Vishwanath Alluri, Founder, Chairman and CEO, IMImobile.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha's demand that he depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee in the 2G spectrum scam.
Describing the functioning of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G as "scandalous", Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram appear before it for the truth to come out.
The minister said that as committed earlier, the 3G spectrum would be distributed to all successful bidders on September 1 for launching services on commercial basis.
In wake of former Telecom Minister A Raja's accusation that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was in the loop in the policy decisions taken by his ministry, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday demanded the appointment of a Special Investigation Team to investigate all the charges levelled against the Prime Minister's Office in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.
Telecom complaints against other players were below 500 in the first half of 2016.
'If Parliament had not been obstructed, even the Indian media would not have realised that such a monumental scam had taken place,' says Arun Jaitley.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja was being questioned again at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi on Saturday in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum to certain telecom firms.
After engaging in a war of words with industrialist Ratan Tata, Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar has now given a 7-point agenda to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal suggesting that the ministry be made "free of lobbyists and wheeler-dealers" to clean up the sector.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati on Wednesday told a Delhi court that former Telecom Minister A Raja's letter to the prime minister regarding the DoT's policy to be adopted for 2G spectrum allocation was not based on discussion with him and the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
India is investing in developing indigenous capabilities in 5G and 6G telecom technologies besides focusing on manufacturing semi-conductors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. In a virtual address at the Sydney Dialogue, the prime minister said the "greatest product" of technology today is data and that India has created a robust framework of data protection, privacy and security. "And, at the same time, we use data as a source of empowerment of people. India has unmatched experience in doing this in a democratic framework with strong guarantees of individual rights," he said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday submitted to the Supreme Court the status report on its ongoing investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation scam allegedly involving former telecom minister A Raja. The status report was submitted to the apex court registry in a sealed cover. The apex court, earlier on November 25, had castigated the CBI on why it had not questioned Raja and the telecom secretary in the case, saying the agency was 'beating around the bush'.
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