2G case: CBI official says he did not read chargesheet

CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police V M Mittal denies denied the suggestion of defence counsel Vijay Aggarwal that he had not "deliberately" brought on record documents favourable to the accused in th

In an interesting development, a senior CBI official, who was in the team investigating the 2G spectrum scam, today told a Delhi court that he neither read the chargesheet of the case nor was he aware that key accused A Raja had become Telecom Minister in May 2007.

CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police V M Mittal, who was deposing as a prosecution witness, told this to the court when he was cross examined by one of the defence counsel regarding joining of Raja and his private secretary R K Chandolia, also an accused, in the ministry of communication and information technology.

"I do not know if A Raja took over as minister of communication and information technology in May 2007. I do not know if R K Chandolia joined as his private secretary in May 2007. I have not read the chargesheet of this case," he told special CBI judge O P Saini.

During cross examination, which would continue tomorrow, Mittal denied the suggestion of defence counsel Vijay Aggarwal that he had falsely implicated Chandolia in the case and had not "deliberately" brought on record the documents which were favourable to the accused.

"It is wrong to suggest that I have carried out a biased and shoddy investigation. It is wrong to suggest that I did not record the correct version of the witnesses.

"It is wrong to suggest that it was a pre-concluded decision to charge sheet the accused persons irrespective of the material being favourable to or against them. It is wrong to suggest that I pleaded ignorance regarding various facts as the same were favourable to the accused persons," he said.

The counsel appearing for Swan Telecom Promoter Shahid Balwa, also an accused, asked Mittal about documents regarding transfer of Rs 1,700 crore from Tata Realty Infrastructure Ltd to Unitech group companies and the IO said that he do not know if he had received those documents in February 2011.