2G case: Court to hear CBI's plea on Radia's conversations

A Delhi court will tomorrow hear arguments on CBI's plea seeking permission to place on record a CD of 62 intercepted telephonic conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with various persons in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini had on May 28 fixed the agency's application for arguments for tomorrow asking all the accused facing trial in the case to file their response on it by then.
CBI had moved the court saying that out of the 62 taped conversations of Radia, it had already submitted transcripts of 12 conversations before it and now they want to place on record the rest for "fairness".

Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit had told the court these transcripts relate to the conversation between Radia and other individuals and the calls were intercepted by the Income Tax Department.
A total of 5,800 calls were intercepted by the Income Tax Department and only these 62 conversations were "directly or remotely" related to the 2G spectrum case, Lalit had said.
The CBI's plea was opposed by the counsel appearing for the accused saying that transcripts cannot be taken on record at this stage and the agency should have done it earlier.

The defence counsel had contended that the CBI cannot be allowed to plug their lacunae by placing on record these transcripts at this stage.

The court had posted the matter for tomorrow and had asked the accused to respond to CBI's plea after defence counsel had sought sufficient time to file their reply.
In the transcripts produced before the court, Radia is allegedly discussing the issue of lobbying for 2G licences for her clients Unitech and Tata Tele Services Ltd (TTSL) and how certain rivals were on the verge of getting it.
On May 28, the court had also deferred the recording of statement of Radia saying that it would be continued after the issue of placing on record the transcripts and CD is decided.