Delhi High Court Issues Notices To A Raja, Kanimozhi On ED, CBI Appeal In 2G Case

The Delhi High Court today issued a notice to former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate challenging their acquittal in the 2G spectrum money laundering case.

Justice SP Garg issued notice to Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the case asking them to file a reply on the Central Bureau of Investigation plea within two weeks and listed the matter to 25 May for further hearing.

The court said status quo would be maintained with regard to properties attached by the Enforcement Directorate in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.

On March 19, the ED moved the high court challenging a special court order acquitting all the accused in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam. Yesterday, the CBI too challenged in the high court the acquittal of the accused in the case.

(Also Read: Supreme Court Tells Investigative Agencies To Complete 2G Probe In Six Months)

The special court on Dec. 21 last year acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom Private Ltd., Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Private Ltd., film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Director of Kalaignar TV Sharad Kumar in the ED case.

The ED, in its chargesheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by STPL promoters to the DMK-run Kalaignar TV.

On the same day, the trial court acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others, including former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd. managing director Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case.

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on Feb. 2, 2012.

(Also Read: PNB Fraud Will Collapse Just Like 2G Scam: Nirav Modi's Lawyer)