Swamy keen to assist CBI in 2G probe

Requests court to attach him formally to the probe

PTI | April 18, 2011



Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today told a special court that he should be associated in the 2G spectrum allocation case as he is willing to assist the CBI in a "formal way".

"I have to be associated in a formal way with the CBI's case. I will be happy to assist them. The court should give me a formal status and I do not think CBI would have any problem in this," Swamy told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

The court, however, asked the CBI that whether Swamy's private complaint, which sought prosecution of former telecom minister and prime accused A Raja in the 2G case and his appointment as public prosecutor, could be tagged with the agency's FIR in the case.

The court deferred the matter for further hearing on May 4 after the CBI sought two weeks time to file its response in the matter.

"Submissions regarding applicability of section 210 CrPC heard and thereafter deferred on the prayer of public prosecutor. Put up on May 4 for further proceedings, as prayed by the prosecutor to which the complainant (Swamy) has no objection," the court said.

During the hearing, Swamy said that although the CBI is probing the matter and has filed the chargesheet, his private complaint has wider ambit in some aspects.

"The scope of my application (private complaint) overlaps with the CBI case, but in some cases its ambit is wider than that of the CBI's FIR," Swamy said.

Swamy added that he is willing to assist the CBI and Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit, who has been appointed by the Supreme Court as a prosecutor in this case.

On this, the judge asked Swamy that whether he wants his private complaint to be tagged with the CBI's FIR.

The Janata Party chief replied that he do not have any problem in this but questioned about his status if his private complaint is tagged with the agency's FIR.

On being asked about it, CBI prosecutor A K Singh said that they need at least two weeks time to respond on this and also told the court that Swamy should make a formal plea regarding this.

Swamy further said that his complaint has a wider aspect than that of the CBI and the agency acted in the case after he filed the complaint.

On this, the CBI prosecutor said that it was the agency which filed the FIR in the case in October 2009 and Swamy came in the picture later on.

Meanwhile, the advocates for the accused in the case, opposed the tagging of the FIR and Swamy's private complaint saying they do not even know the contents of the complaint filed by Swamy in the matter.

"Unless and until we read out the contents of Swamy's complaint, how could we know what his plea is? We are entitled to be heard and copy of his complaint should be given to us," advocate Vijay Agrawal, counsel for accused Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, said.

He added that there should be an formal application from Swamy in this regard.

Earlier on March 28, Swamy had told the court that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi should also be made an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Swamy had told the special court that he had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking sanction for prosecution of Home Minister P Chidambaram in the case.

Swamy's private complaint in the 2G scam was earlier transferred to the special court constituted by the Supreme Court to deal with all cases related to the scam.

He had also sought the court's direction to appoint him as a public prosecutor to help the agency probe the case.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Manch vs Musk: Forty people and a foreign billionaire

About forty people walked the roundabout on Teen Murti Marg to the gate of Chanakyapuri police station, a distance you could cover in under a minute, on Friday to protest against Elon Musk’s Starlink. The walk was called by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. Nobody joined them on the way, and nobody seeme

Master sculptor recalls the making of the Shankaracharya statue

The Golden Chisel: The Story Behind the Making of Ram Lalla  By Seethalakshmi S. and Rahul Nandan Rupa Publications, 168 pages, Rs 395  

Mumbai’s missing affordable homes

Mumbai’s real estate market keeps growing, yet homeownership remains out of reach for much of its population. Three experts – urban researcher Hussain Indorewala, urban planner Vidyadhar Phatak and developer Kamlesh Thakur of NAREDCO Maharashtra, agree that simply constructing more apartments

Rubio denies US foreknowledge of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he was unfamiliar with the Wall Street Journal report suggesting Elon Musk had decided to throttle Starlink services in Ukraine, but rejected claims that Washington had ordered the restrictions to pressure Kyiv.   “There was no

Can AI change India’s breast cancer story?

Breast cancer has become a public-health challenge in India. The greatest opportunity is to find cancers earlier. Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening a new era in breast cancer detection. AI systems can analyse mammograms and other breast-imaging studies, identify subtle abnormalities and assist radi

Farm stability in the time of climate change

Indian agriculture is experiencing significant climate volatility, while the world economy seems to be in a highly volatile situation. Economic indices from various countries show that they need to recalibrate their strategies to withstand economic headwinds. In such a challenging situation, a country li

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter