Ex-Telecom secy discharged, court slams CBI for 'fabricating

The court said the charge sheet was based on 'deliberately redacted and garbled facts'

In an embarrassment to CBI, a special 2G court today discharged former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms in the 2002 additional spectrum allocation case, saying that the charge sheet was "full of distorted and fabricated facts" and agency has tried to "mislead" the court.

Coming down heavily on CBI, the court said that the charge sheet was based on "deliberately redacted and garbled facts" and it was drafted in a manner to create an impression that a grave crime was committed, whereas there was none and there was "no incriminating material on record" against the accused.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini also noted in his 235-page order that the charge sheet was filed for "extraneous reasons" and directed the CBI Director to conduct an inquiry against the erring officials and take action against them as per law.

The court said that CBI had "deliberately" not produced many relevant documents before it only to indicate that demand for additional spectrum started only after late Pramod Mahajan had joined as the Telecom Minister in 2001.

"The conclusion of the aforesaid analysis of the events, evidence, documents and other material on record is that the charge sheet is a distorted and fabricated document, based on deliberately redacted and garbled facts," the court said.

"It (charge sheet) has been so drafted as to create an impression of a grave crime, where there is none. An attempt has been made to create an impression in the charge sheet that everything was done on a single day in the dark hours of evening of January 31, 2002. There is no doubt that the charge sheet has been filed for extraneous reasons," it said.

The judge further said, "Since the charge sheet has been found to be full of distorted and fabricated facts and an attempt has also been made to mislead the court, Director CBI, is directed to conduct an inquiry against the erring officials and take action against them as per law."

"In the end, I find that there is no incriminating material on record against the accused and the accused deserve to be discharged. Accordingly, the accused stand discharged," the judge said.

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