CBI questions Raja again

Letters Rogatory will also be sent to three countries, including Singapore.

Former telecom minister A Raja was on Saturday questioned for the second time for his alleged involvement in allocation of 2G spectrum in 2007-08 even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) roped in Enforcement Directorate officials in the case.

A Letters Rogatory (LR) would also be sent to as many as three countries, including Singapore, to know the financial trail in the 2G scam as the agency has alleged that some kin of the former minister were associated with the alleged scam.

Raja arrived at CBI headquarters early this morning and was questioned on the issue of advancing dates for allocation of spectrum and on the role of his relatives in some of the companies which allegedly acted as a front for certain telecom firms which were allotted spectrum between September 2007 and January 2008, official sources said.

They said Raja was asked to clarify some contents in certain documents seized by the agency during its raids on Department of Telecom offices in October last year after registering a case against unknown officers of DoT and telecom companies. Saturday’s questioning by CBI sleuths also focused on the tapped conversation between Raja and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.

Raja left CBI office around 3.45 pm. He refused to make any comment.

Raja’s questioning comes days after his residences here and in Tamil Nadu were searched by CBI officials.

While Raja, a DMK MP from Nilgris, was allowed to go home on Saturday, sources in the agency said he would be called again and confronted with some more questions and documents recovered from the computers seized during the raids conducted by the agency earlier.

Raja had flown in from Chennai on Wednesday after receiving a summon under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Raja was forced to resign on November 14 in the wake of the CAG report which held that the spectrum allocation at undervalued prices resulted in a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

Raja got the telecom portfolio on May 18, 2007. He got re-elected as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha and continued as telecom minister from May 31, 2009, till November 14 this year.

The Central Vigilance Commission has also pointed out certain irregularities in the allocation of spectrum.