Raja counsel says Achary staged drama for own ends

The day after Aseervatham Achary, a star witness in the 2G telecom scam case and former additional private secretary to A Raja, the jailed ex-minister, alleged a threat to his life and pointed at an office boy employed with a corporate house as his suspicion, he was attacked by defence counsels for allegedly staging a drama.

The man he had pointed to in court, Jai Prakash, was then taken into custody by the police and questioned. The police let him off later, saying it was a case of mistaken identity. The defence counsels on Friday alleged in the Patiala House trial court that Achary enacted the drama in collusion with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the prosecuting agency.

Achary had yesterday alleged that Jai Prakash had visited his house and was confronted by his personal security officer. Jai Prakash had said he was an office boy with Reliance Communications, whose executives are also on trial. Achary said his PSO had pointed to Jai Prakash as the same man who had visited him.

Denying any knowledge of Jai Prakash being released by the police, since he had not read the newspapers, Achary said he had not colluded with the CBI.

The defence counsel also asked the judge to take some step to curb the media from reporting the court proceeding in excess of what was put on record, apprehending it could have an adverse impact on their case. To this, senior prosecution lawyer U U Lalit asked, “Are you saying the judiciary will now get influenced by the media reports?”