CBI chargesheet names 100 witnesses

The list of high-profile people associated with the 2G spectrum allocation case keeps getting longer.

For instance, the list of 100 witnesses, who would appear in a trail court, in connection with the Essar-Loop Telecom case. The court is set to pronounce its order tomorrow on the third chargesheet linked to the 2G case, filed a week ago by the the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court will decide whether to take cognisance of the charges made by the agency against the Loop Telecom and Essar Group’s officials in the scam.

The CBI has named 100 witnesses in its chargesheet against the two companies and its officials so far. The list includes names of corporate honchos like Ajit Nambiar of BPL and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, diplomats, several current and former bureaucrats from the Department of Telecom and corporate affairs ministry. Even T V Ramachandran, regulatory executive with Vodafone and earlier director general of Cellular Operators Association of India finds a mention.

Among people who are likely to walk the corridors of Delhi’s Patiala House court as witnesses are the chief financial officer of Titan Industries, Somasundaram Subramaniam, the then chief executive officer of BPL Mobile and Sandip Basu, CEO, Loop Telecom.

In the chargesheet filed on December 12, the CBI had named Essar Group promoters Anshuman and Ravi Ruia, Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and I P Khaitan and Essar Group director (Strategy and Planning) Vikas Saraf as accused.

The companies named include Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holding.

The CBI in its chargesheet said Loop Telecom had made fraudulent Unified Access Service Licence applications for 21 circles on September 3, 2007, a result of “the entire conspiracy to cheat the DoT through a fraudulent corporate veil, to hide the actual holding structure of Loop Telecom and Loop Mobile, erstwhile BPL Mobile, which was committed through Essar Teleholdings”.