A special CBI court on Thursday has acquitted all accused including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK supremo Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G scam which was one of the biggest scandals during UPA. Special judge OP Saini also acquitted 15 other accused and three companies.

The special court gave its verdict on two cases filed by CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

A CAG report had found that in the 2G spectrum allocation, the loss to the exchequer was to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
Avoiding a direct comment on the question whether government still believes that there was a scam in 2G spectrum allocation, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said that in 2008 the UPA government followed a 'first come first pay'  policy. The highest court of the land has already termed the allocation arbitrary and corrupt, there is nothing else that government has to add to that, Sinha said.

READ: 2G scam back in court, a look at 20 yrs of telecom scandals

On questions whether government will appeal against the CBI special court verdict in the high court, the minister said, "This is something that the investigating agencies has to decide."

If you look at the earning of the government post 2G allocation in 2008, the facts in this case will be clear, Sinha said. The amount collected is much greater than done in the past, he said.

During the UPA rule in 2012, the government received Rs  9,407 crore in the auctions in the 800 and 1800 Mhz bands.
In 2013, the government received Rs s 3549 crore in auction. In 2014, in the auction in 900, 1800 bands, it received Rs 61,962 crore. In 2015, in auctions in 800, 900, 2100, the government got Rs 1,09,874 crore. In 2016 auctions in 700, 900, 1800, 2300, 2500 the total amount received was Rs 65,789 crore.

Few things are clear seeing the success of these auctions: spectrum scarcity is a thing of the past, no TSP complains about spectrum, the allocation of spectrum is transparent.