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2G case: ED moves HC against acquittal of Raja, Kanimozhi

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday moved the Delhi High Court challenging a special court order acquitting former Telecom Minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam.

Besides Mr. Raja and Ms. Kanimozhi, the special court had on December 21 2017 acquitted 17 others, including DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. Ltd., film producer Karim Morani, P. Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV.

The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that ₹200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd. (STPL) promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.

On the same day, the trial court had acquitted Mr. Raja, Ms. Kanimozhi and 15 others, including former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Mr. Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R.K. Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd. MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI’s 2G case.

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of ₹30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for the 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on February 2, 2012.

Special Judge O.P. Saini, however, had then held that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove the charges.

The special court, which was set up on March 14, 2011 for hearing the 2G cases exclusively, had also acquitted Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe.

The first case, prosecuted by the CBI, had 17 accused, while the second matter, pursued by the ED, had 19 undertrials. The third one had eight accused including Essar promoters.

In the CBI case, Mr. Raja, Ms. Kanimozhi and 15 others were tried under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, using as genuine fake documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.

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