2G scam: Former minister A Raja, key aides arrested by CBI Former Telecom Minister A Raja and his close associates R K Chandolia and Siddharth Behuria were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation today afternoon for their alleged role in the procedural irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
On Tuesday, the one-man panel set up to examine the procedures for awarding 2G licences between 2001 and 2009, had submitted its report to Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal. It is understood the panel of retired chief justice Shivaraj V Patil had named Raja and his former personal secretary Chandolia and telecom secretary Behuria for wrongdoing in his 150-page report. “I have identified the officials on whose part there were deficiency or lapses,” Justice (retd) Shivaraj Patil had said after submitting the report, which has annexures running into 1,300 pages. However, he had refused to name the officials allegedly responsible for failing to implement the policy in a transparent and fair manner. Congress said the arrest of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam was a case of law taking its own course. "Congress had said earlier also that all such cases should be investigated and enquired properly and law will take its own course," AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters. He dismissed as a "silly judgement" a question whether the arrest of a former Minister in the UPA government showed that the dispensation was corrupt. "I am not bound to answer such silly judgement," he said. He got the telecom portfolio on May 18, 2007 and was re-elected as a Member of the 15th Lok Sabha and continued as Telecom Minister from May 31, 2009, till November 14, 2010. The Supreme Court has asked CBI and Enforcement Directorate to submit status reports on their investigations into the 2G spectrum case to it by February 10 when the case will come up for further hearing. In its FIR, CBI mentioned the loss in spectrum allocation as Rs 22,000 crore based on CVC findings which had referred the case to it. CBI has also questioned former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief Pradip Baijal, a 1966 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, and former Telecom Secretary D S Mathur in connection with the case. *Raja's arrest too little too late: BJP* BJP dubbed the arrest of A Raja as "too little too late" and demanded that others involved in the 2G spectrum scam should also be brought to book. **"The arrest is too little too late. It is very unfair to say that Raja alone had gulped Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Who are the rest of the people? BJP categorically wants to know that," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said. He said Raja's arrest was just the beginning of an exercise. "Please don't give credit to the government for the arrest. The government has to answer many questions before this finally comes to an end," he said. * * -- Do not try to put your thoughts and emotions, your rights and wrongs into your children. Your ideas belong to the past, but a child belongs to the future. *- vanakkam Subbu** * *வணக்கம் சுப்பு**
