Spectrum case: Court directs CBI to supply documents to accused

A special court Tuesday directed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to supply documents to accused in the additional spectrum allocation scam case during the earlier NDA regime and posted the next hearing for Feb 6.

Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini posted the hearing for Feb 6 after the defence counsel told the court that they needed some documents filed with the charge sheet.

The judge directed the probe agency to supply the documents as sought by the defence counsel.

The probe agency has already supplied the copies of charge sheet and documents filed along with it to the accused.

The CBI filed a charge sheet Dec 21, 2012, accusing former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms, Bharti Cellular Ltd., Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt. Ltd. (Vodafone India Ltd.), and Sterling Cellular Ltd. (Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd.).

The case relates to the department of telecommunications (DoT), allocating additional spectrum in a decision taken Jan 31, 2002, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by Tal Bihari Vajpayee, was in power, allegedly resulting in a loss of Rs.846 crore to the exchequer.

Although the CBI did not name Bharti Cellular CMD Sunil Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia, as accused, the special court issued summons to them.

The Supreme Court has quashed the order of the 2G special court summoning Mittal and Ruia as accused in the case.