CBI's IO deposes about complicity of Unitech Group in 2G case

A CBI officer, who was part of the probe team investigating the 2G spectrum scam, today rejected in a Delhi court the contention that Unitech group of companies had "no advance information" about issuance of letters of intent (LoIs) and it was brought to the ambit of prosecution by "hook or crook".
CBI's Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajesh Chahal, who was deposing as a prosecution witness in the case, rejected the suggestions of Unitech Ltd Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, facing trial in the case, that the probe conducted by him was "faulty and incomplete".
"It is wrong to suggest that Unitech group of companies had no advance information about issuance of LoIs. It is wrong to suggest that the knowledge of Unitech group of companies was from public domain and not from any insider information," Chahal told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

During his cross-examination by senior advocate Rebecca John who appeared for Chandra, Chahal said "it is wrong to suggest that Vivek Priyadarshi (CBI's SP) directed me to bring Unitech group of companies within the ambit of prosecution by hook or by crook."
"It is wrong to suggest that the investigation conducted by me is tainted, faulty and incomplete. It is further wrong to suggest that I suppressed material, which came to my notice during investigation, favourable to accused Sanjay Chandra and eight Unitech group companies," he said.
CBI, in its charge, had alleged the accused firm Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd had prior knowledge of the "ill-conceived" design of first-come-first-serve process and had kept its demand drafts of Rs 1,658 crore ready since October 2007.

Chahal, whose recording of statement concluded today, told the court that as far as he remembered, there were some licencee firms, other than Unitech group companies and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, which had "offloaded their equity" after allocation of spectrum by the Department of Telecommunication.
Sanjay Chandra, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and others, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi, are facing trial in the 2G case.