A Raja produced in Patiala House court; CBI seeks his custody

Arrested former Telecom Minister A Raja was produced in the Patiala House Court here on Thursday, where the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought a five-day custody to interrogate him and his two aides.

Raja was arrested on Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under sections 120B, 13(2), 13(1D) of Prevention of Corruption Act on the charges of criminal conspiracy, abuse of official provision and unduly favouring private companies in the 2G spectrum allocation.

His personal secretary RK Chandolia and Telecom Secretary during his tenure-Siddharth Behuria-were also arrested the same day (Wednesday).

The trio was produced in the court on Thursday.

During the hearing, the CBI counsel said Raja and his aides were responsible for a loss of Rs 2200 crores to the exchequer. He also said Raja favoured two telecom companies-Swan and Uninor-who made huge profits by selling their stakes at high rates to other companies, thereby incurring a loss to the exchequer.

The counsel sought a five-day remand for Raja and his aides for joint interrogation.

Meanwhile, Raja and his associates dodged most questions in the court, after the tainted DMK leader had a 10-minute private conversation with his lawyer.

Raja is accused of criminal conspiracy and using his office as Telecom Minister to benefit a few telecom operators when 2G spectrum licences were being allocated in 2008 for mobile network.