Court acquits ex-telecom secy Shyamal Ghosh in additional spectrum case

Ghosh, Hutchison Max, Sterling Cellular and Bharti Cellular were chargesheeted in the case; special court says CBI charge sheet 'fabricated'

In an embarassment to the CBI, a special 2G court today discharged ex-telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms chargesheeted in the 2002 additional spectrum scam case, saying the agency had filed a "false and fabricated" charge sheet against the accused.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini observed that CBI tried to mislead the court and the charge sheet filed by it was full of "distorted facts".

The court asked the CBI Director to conduct an inquiry against the "erring officials" for filing such a chargesheet.

"I am reading out the last paragraph of the order. It's a false and fabricated chargesheet and there is no incriminating evidence against any of the accused so they are discharged. The chargesheet is full of distorted facts and an attempt has been made to mislead the court," the judge said.

The "CBI Director is directed to make an inquiry against erring officials", the court said.

Ghosh and three telecom firms -- Hutchison Max(P) Ltd, Sterling Cellular Ltd and Bharti Cellular Ltd -- were chargesheeted in the case relating to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) allocating additional spectrum that had allegedly led to a loss of Rs 846.44 crore to the exchequer.