2G: Ravi Ruia, three others exempted from Wednesday’s personal appearance

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here exempted from personal appearance corporate honcho Ravi Ruia of the Essar group and three others from Wednesday’s hearing of the 2G case.

The matter has been listed for March 17.

The defence counsel of Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia told special CBI judge O.P. Saini that they were outside India and should thus be exempt from personal appearance. The defence counsel of the two other accused, Loop Telecom promoters I.P. Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan, moved an application for exemption on health grounds.

The CBI did not oppose the four applications.

The court granted exemption to all four accused for Wednesday and directed them to appear in person on the next date of hearing.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatagi said that since all four accused were out of country in connection with their business, they may be granted exemption from Wednesday’s hearing.

“Considering the submission made by Rohatagi, all four accused are granted exemption for today, subject to the condition that their advocates shall remain present in the court and participate in the court proceedings,” said judge Saini.

Meanwhile, Ruias’ counsel Rohatagi told court that the offence under which they are booked can only be tried by a magistrate’s court. “The case against us is not a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and, moreover, we have challenged the administrative order of the Delhi High Court by which this court was constituted to hear the 2G case.”

Only if they lose can the case can be taken up by the CBI court, Rohatgi said while seeking a prolonged gap before the next hearing.

Ruias and Khaitans’ counsel also told court that the summons were not served in a proper manner.

The court, at its last hearing on Jan 27, had issued summons to Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, I.P. Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan.

The third set of charges filed by the CBI in the 2G case alleged that the Essar Group used Loop as a front to acquire telecom licences in 2008. Essar, which already had a 33 percent stake in Vodafone, held substantial equity in Loop and thus violated telecom licence norms, the chargesheet said.

Meanwhile, Viaks Saraf of the Essar group moved his bail application which the court has listed for March 17.

The court has asked prosecution to file its reply on the bail application.

According to the government auditor, the 2G scam, allegedly masterminded by former telecom minister A. Raja, pertained to biased distribution of mobile airwaves and operating licences, in lieu of kickbacks, to telecom firms that could have cost the treasury up to Rs.1.76 lakh crore in lost revenue.

Nineteen individuals and six companies are accused in the case. Except for Raja and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, all other arrested accused have been released on bail.