I was a fool to indulge in loose talk: Tarun Das

Embarrassed by the publication of Niira Radia tapes, former CII chief mentor, Tarun Das, today said he was “more than a bloody fool” to indulge in loose talk about some Cabinet ministers, but claimed he was neither a fixer nor a lobbyist.

“Not really, I am not a political... I am not a fixer,” he said in an interview on TV news channel CNN-IBN’s ‘Devil’s Advocate’ show.

Das said while he agreed to lobby for Radia, he did not do so. “I did not lobby,” he said. Asked why he agreed to do so in his conversation with Radia, Das said: “These are casual informal conversations... I am not concerned with individual positions and individual jobs.”

He said the tape episode had brought tears to him and his family, which had suffered.

CBI may book some
The CBI is contemplating booking some of the people whose premises were searched in connection with the 2G scam under the Official Secrets Act after it claimed to have found mirror images of certain government documents classified as "secret" from the computers seized. Sources said the agency had also come across mention of such documents in the conversation tapped by the Income Tax authorities. The authorities, including the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, were analysing the purported telephone calls made by corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others, including a former bureaucrat and a journalist, during which secret documents were being discussed, they claimed.

ED starts fresh questioning
The Enforcement Directorate has initiated the second round of questioning of telecom firms as part of its probe into the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam. Official sources said the Directorate has recently started fresh questioning of representatives of certain telecom firms after analysing thousands of pages of documents submitted by them during the first interaction.