CBI questions Dhoot brothers on 2G scam; Shourie misses date

Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today in connection with the probe into the 2G telecom spectrum scam. Dhoot, with his brother and Rajya Sabha MP, Rajkumar Dhoot, was questioned for five hours.

The brothers arrived before the investigating agency at 11 am and left in the evening.

Datacom Solutions, which later became Videocon Telecommunications, had made ‘false’ declarations to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on its paid-up capital. Months later, the company gave the corrected version to the government. CBI is learnt to have questioned the brothers on the anomaly linked to the paid-up capital amount.

The agency had recently questioned the brass of companies which had received a telecom licence in 2007-2008. Those already interrogated include Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, Essar CEO Prashant Ruia and Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra.

In its report tabled in Parliament during the winter session, the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) had noted out that Datacom Solutions, in August 2007, had shown its paid-up capital at Rs 150 crore while appealing for a telecom licence to the DoT. However, the documents filed along with this declaration failed to match this claim.

Videocon Telecommunication was among the first in queue to get a spectrum licence in several circles across India. The CAG believed DoT had made out-of-turn favours to certain companies. HFCL’s Mahendra Nahata, who had a stake in Datacom earlier, may also be questioned in this connection.

Meanwhile, former telecom minister Arun Shourie, who was scheduled to meet CBI officials today, could not come due to a personal emergency. Shourie, who was telecom minister in the NDA regime, was called for consultation on the spectrum policies followed since 2001.

The agency along with the Enforcement Directorate is likely to question A Kalia Perumal, brother of jailed ex-telecom minister A Raja . The CBI has also summoned Raja’s close aide, Sadiq Batcha to appear for questioning on Wednesday.