New Delhi:
A Delhi court has reserved order on the bail plea of the five executives chargesheeted in the 2G spectrum scam. The court will now pronounce its order on April 20.
The court has fixed April 18 as the date for scrutiny of documents.
The CBI had said they should not get bail because they could abscond, and influence key witnesses in the trial against them.
"The accused are holding high positions and now that the names of witnesses are disclosed, some of whom are directly working under (them) or are amenable to their directions, possibility of winning over and/or influencing the witnesses is clearly present," the CBI said.
The heads of companies like Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecommunications are accused of conspiring with former Telecom Minister A Raja to get licenses and spectrum for mobile networks at throwaway prices.
Mr Raja, who is from the DMK, is currently in Tihar Jail. So is Swan Telcom's Shahid Balwa, who allegedly paid Mr Raja a 200-crore kickback which was deposited with a TV channel in Chennai, owned partly by Kanimozhi, who is a Rajya Sabha MP and whose father, M Karunanidhi, heads the DMK. Mr Balwa's partner, Vinod Goenka, is among the five executives.
Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless has been chargesheeted for cheating and conspiracy. The CBI believes that he came up with a plan which centred on Mr Raja abruptly advancing the deadlines for applications for licenses by a week. Companies like Unitech allegedly benefited from this and jumped to the head of the queue.
Three senior executives from Anil Ambani's ADAG have been accused of setting up Swan as a front to acquire more spectrum and licenses for Mr Ambani's Reliance Telecommunications. Gautam Doshi, who is the Managing Director of ADAG, and two other executives tried to conceal Reliance's stake in Swan, says the CBI. Funding for Swan was organized overnight so that it could serve as a secret extension of Reliance. According to the rules, no operator could own more than 10% in another company providing telecom services in the same area. Mr Doshi, Surrendra Pipara and Hari Nair used Swan to get around that rule, says the CBI.