Will 2G Accused Be Indicted? Special CBI Court Reserves Verdict

After five years of day-to-day hearings, a special Central Bureau of Investigation court in New Delhi's Patiala House Court Complex has reserved its verdict on the infamous 2G scam.

Special CBI judge OP Saini has concluded hearing, but gave the parties one last chance on July 5 to submit any document or make any additional submission.

The court is expected to give its verdict in three to six months. Given the nature of the cases (at least 4,000 pages of testimonials of over 150 witnesses), the judge will surely need a couple of months to decide on the verdict.

Five cases were allotted to this court in 2012 after the scam broke out.

The court has discharged the accused in two cases, rejecting CBI's charge sheet.

In the remaining three cases, judgment has been reserved. The ruling will decide if former telecom minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member A Raja and Kanimozhi will be indicted for the 2008 scam in spectrum licence allocation.

According to media reports, a host of high-profile individuals have been charged with offences ranging from cheating to criminal conspiracy.

They include former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd managing director D Sanjay Chandra, and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.

Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd are also accused in the cases.

While the bureaucrats and officials will be charged with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the companies involved are charged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, apart from other offences under the Indian Penal Code.