2G case: Achary denies being a 'tailor-made' witness

Asheervatham Achary, ex-aide of former telecom minister A Raja and a key witness in 2G spectrum case, today denied in a Delhi court that his statement to CBI was "tailor-made" and that he was being used as a "willing tool" to falsely implicate Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra.

Chandra's counsel RS Cheema put Raja's former additional private secretary Achary asked him if CBI decided to falsely implicate his client in the case for "extraneous reasons" and if he was "tutored" by the agency to make a statement before the magistrate.

"I do not know if at the fag end of the investigation, CBI decided to falsely implicate Sanjay Chandra in this case for extraneous reasons. It is wrong to suggest that in this, I became a willing toll in the hands of CBI and owned a tailor-made statement under section 161 CrPC [to CBI]," Achary told Special CBI Judge OP Saini.

He denied he made improvements in his statement before the court at the behest of CBI.

"It is wrong to suggest that I made the statement before the magistrate as being tutored by CBI. It is wrong to suggest that I had deposed in the court as per the dictation of the investigating agency.

"It is wrong to suggest that the improvements made by me in the court were carefully calculated and introduced at the behest of CBI," he said.

During his cross-examination, he said he was not aware that between January, 2005, and May, 2007, during Raja's tenure as the Minister of Environment and Forests, 1,666 environmental clearances were given and out of this Unitech applied and got only seven.