2G spectrum case: CBI allowed to file more documents

Special CBI court on Tuesday allowed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit additional documents in relation to the 2G spectrum allocation case. CBI had recently submitted letters exchanged between former telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) chairman, Nripendra Misra and Department of Telecommunication officials including former telecom secretaries Siddhartha Behura and D S Mathur.

Special CBI judge O P Saini said, “All documents, barring one, have been sought to be placed on record by A Raja (former telecom minister) and his application has been allowed, I do not see any reason for declining the prayer (of CBI).”

The move was opposed by the defence counsels of Behura, A Raja’s personal secretary R K Chandolia and Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra among others on the ground that it will cause prejudice to the case of the accused. The defence counsels said that all documents should be filed with the chargesheet and CBI should not be allowed to put on record extra documents as and when it chooses to do so.

“Filing of these documents at this stage after lapse of more than 8 months and examination of 10 witnesses is an afterthought and to fill up the lacunas in the prosecution evidence which is not permissible for a fair trial of the accused persons,”Behura’s counsels submitted before the court.

CBI’s counsel U U Lalit said that certain documents could not be placed on record with the chargesheet due to inadvertence and that here is no legal bar on placing the same on record now.