2G: Court issues notice to all accused on CBI's plea to call Anil Ambani as witness

A Delhi court today issued notices to all the accused in the 2G spectrum case seeking their response on July 3 on a plea by the CBI seeking to call 17 more prosecution witnesses, including Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani.

Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini issued notices after special public prosecutor U.U. Lalit told the court that their testimonies are required to be recorded "to arrive at the truth".

"Issue notices to the accused persons for July 3," the judge said, adding that he would decide on the same date whether it would seek a reply from the accused on a separate CBI plea seeking to recall Department of Telecommunications official Nitin Jain as a witness in the case.

The recording of statements Mr. Ambani and his wife will help CBI strengthen its case, CBI chief Ranjit Sinha said.

"We sought the court's permission to produce Anil and Tina Ambani as witnesses. We feel that it will bolster our case," Sinha said.

The CBI told the special 2G court today that while Mr. Ambani's statement was recorded earlier during the probe, it was not presented before the court since he was not a witness then.

CBI's plea indicates it is keen to examine Mr. Ambani's role in the context of his alleged role in Swan Telecom, one of the firms that has benefitted in the 2G scam.

Three top executives of the ADAG group -- Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara -- are accused in the ongoing case.

The agency has alleged that Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd, an accused firm in the 2G case, was a front of Reliance ADAG. Swan was promoted by Shahid Balwa and Vivek Goenka.