This Article is From Feb 10, 2011

2G scam: Supreme Court asks Govt to set up special court for trial

2G scam: Supreme Court asks Govt to set up special court for trial
New Delhi: The CBI may have given a clean chit to the public sector banks in the 2G spectrum scam but the Supreme Court has ordered the investigating agency to do more.

The judges asked, "What is intriguing is that the banks did not find out what kind of transactions they were going into. (It's) surprising that they doled out loans like this. This seems quite intriguing."  The court told the CBI today that its inquiry "should also cover culpability of beneficiaries of the scam as they are part of larger conspiracy."

A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked the agency to lay its hand on the big corporate houses and the government officials who may have a role in the scam "as mere summoning them for examining them  may not be sufficient".

"We have a large number of persons who think themselves to be law. Law must catch them. It should be done with greater expedition. Merely they are in the list of Forbes or they are millionaires does not make any difference," the Bench said after perusing the status reports filed by the probe agencies in which names of big corporate houses and their officers were mentioned.

The court also wants to examine the first chargesheet before the CBI files it. The investigating agency says it will file its first chargesheet in the case by March 31.    

The Supreme Court today asked the government to set up a special court to deal exclusively with the 2G spectrum scam, estimated to be worth upto  Rs 1.76 lakh crore according to the government's auditor. The government now has 2 weeks to inform the Supreme Court how this special court will be set up.

The Supreme Court has been monitoring the CBI's investigation, which has included the arrest for former Telecom Minister A Raja, who resigned in November.  Mr Raja is accused of colluding with telecom companies to bend the rules to ensure they got licenses for mobile networks at clearance prices.

Raja, Balwa sent to CBI custody till Feb 14

The CBI is currently focusing on interrogating former Telecom Minister A Raja, who was arrested eight days ago in connection with the scam which he is alleged to have masterminded.

Another key suspect Shahid Balwa, the promoter of DB Realty, was arrested from his house in Mumbai on Tuesday in connection with the scam. DB Realty floated Swan Telecom, which Raja allegedly favoured in spectrum allocation.

A special CBI court in Delhi today allowed the investigating agency's plea and extended the custody of  Raja and Balwa till February 14.

The CBI is hoping that by questioning the two together, it would be able to establish Raja's link to the money trail in the scam.

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