SC gives CBI two more days to file charge sheet in 2G case

The Supreme Court today allowed a two-day extension to the CBI to file on April 2 its charge sheet against former Telecom Minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case even as the agency said it was readying an 80,000-page document for submission.

In their status reports on the probe into the scam, given to the court in a sealed cover, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed a bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly that the case involved large-scale violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act and benami transactions.

After going through the report, the bench allowed the CBI plea that the agency be granted two more days to file the charge sheet in the case. The court had earlier given the CBI the deadline of March 31 for the purpose.

The ED, in its report, said in violation of RBI guidelines, foreign money was invested in many telecom companies, after they were granted licences during Raja's tenure as telecom minister.

Giving fresh details about its probe, the ED informed the court that Rs 106.95 crore was received by a telecom company in lieu of just one share while the market value of the share was just Rs 270.

The apex court was also informed by the ED that it would start attaching and confiscating the properties of erring telecom companies for violating FEMA soon after filing of the charge sheet.

The ED, in its report, also informed the court about various investments made in telecom companies. The investments originated from several foreign countries, it said.

It said most of these transactions took place after licences were given to the telecom firms during Raja's tenure.

It told the court that a joint team of the CBI and the ED would be sent to foreign countries, starting from Mauritius, to track the trail of the FDI in erring telecom companies involved in 2G scam.