2G scam: CBI opposes co-accused bail plea

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday opposed the bail petitions of five corporate honchos in connection with the 2G Spectrum allocation scam.

The bail petitions were moved by Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra of Unitech, and three officials of Reliance Anil Dhirubhani Ambani group — Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.

They were presented in the special court along with former telecom minister A Raja, his ex-personal aide RK Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, who all are lodged in the Tihar Jail currently.

Opposing the bail applications, newly appointed special public prosecutor UU Lalit said, ?The fact that they were not arrested during the investigation does not entitle them to be released on bail. They have to justify their release on bail as they have now been charged as co-accused.?

However, the counsels of the co-accused maintained that they deserved bail since they have been cooperating with the probe and were not arrested during the course of investigations.

The public prosecutor sought time to file replies.

The special CBI court, presided over by Judge OP Saini, listed the matter for hearing on April 15.

Earlier on April 2, the CBI had filed an 80,000 page charge-sheet against nine people and three companies, including Raja and his Telecom ministry aides and Unitech, Swan telecom and Reliance Telecom.