2G Scam: A Raja arrested; Oppn clamours for JPC

After months of grilling, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested former Telecom Minister A Raja for his alleged role in the multi-billion dollar 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Raja’s personal secretary RK Chandolia and Telecom Secretary during his tenure-Siddharth Behuria-were also arrested.

A vociferous Opposition called the arrests “too little, too late” and stepped up demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into one of the biggest financial scandals since India’s independence .

Raja’s brother A Kaliya Perumal also had to face CBI interrogation.

After his questioning in December, he was quizzed again this week and on Wednesday, leading to his arrest finally.

In December he was grilled by CBI sleuths for hours at the agency?s headquarters.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties said the action came ?too late?.

?The arrest is too late. Raja would have been arrested long ago,? said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury echoed the BJP when he said the arrest reinforces the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the scam.

“All those who helped him and got help should be brought to book. This is end of the beginning,” said Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy.

“Raja should be convicted,” he said.

AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha said:”Many answers are left unanswered…the action is too little, and too late, after three years.”

“It is a half baked action. We will go all out to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) because even the ruling government and its new telecom minister Kapil Sibal contradicted the CAG report on the 2G scam,” she said.

The Congress, which said its ties with ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won?t be affected by Raja?s arrest, defended itself and even tried to turn the heat on BJP for not acting in the Karnataka scams.

?Law is taking its course and we are not coming in-between,? said senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi.

He said Congress always was in favour of allowing the law to take its own course.

?The course of law takes time because it cannot be on whims and fancies,? said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Raja?s arrest.

He said the BJP has not right to attack Congress since it has not acted against its leader in Karnataka.

According to TV reports, the DMK was prepared for the action “since it was expected.”

The beleaguered DMK leader had to resign as the Telecom Minister for his alleged involvement in allocating telecom spectrums to the private providers that cost the government nearly Rs 1.74 lakh crore (about 40 billion USD).

The CBI had grilled corporate lobbyist Niira Radia earlier in connection with the 2G scam.

The one-man committee of Justice Shivraj V Patil probing the lapses in the 2G spectrum allocation on Monday submitted its probe report to new Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, blaming officials for the lapses that resulted in the scam.

The Telecom Ministry had appointed the former Supreme Court judge to find out if proper guidelines were followed in the allocations of 2G spectrum licenses during 2001-2009.