The central bureau of investigation (CBI) on Wednesday implicated union textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran in the 2G spectrum case when it informed the supreme court (SC) that the minister forced Aircel to sell its major stakes to Malaysian company Maxis Communicatiuons.

In its status report submitted to SC, the central investigating agency accused Maran of sitting on Aircel’s application for the 2G licence when he was the telecom minister. Maxis allegedly bought 74 percent stake in Aircel when Maran was the telecom minister and the company was later allotted more circles to operate.

The CBI sought more time till August from the bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly  more time to complete its investigation in the 2G spectrum scam.

Allegedly, Maxis Communication invested Rs 600 crore  through its subsidiary Astro in Sun DTH of the Sun TV Network that is owned by Maran's family. He was the telecom minister from May 2004 to May 2007.

New angles to 2G scam, courtesy anonymous website

GN Bureau

A new website (www.2gscam.co.in) has sprung up on the internet giving altogether new angles to the unfolding 2G spectrum scam, claiming to search through pile of rubbish fed every day by the established media and the CBI and provide news that "actually matters."

It does not spare even special judge O P Saini hearing the 2G case at the instance of the Supreme Court, saying he must get into the Guinness book record in speed-reading or else he could not have passed orders in a mere 15-20 minutes of receiving the two chargesheets, containing 127 pages and 49 pages respectively with approximately 85,000 pages as annexure. Or, is he bowing down to 'pressure' and from whom, ask the anonymous authors.

They do not even bother of the contempt of court as they write: "While everyone wants the truth to come out, one really wonders whether this special judge is the person who can be fair , competent and capable of delivering justice. The jury is out on special judge O. P. Saini."

These authors do not disclose their names anywhere on the website but identify themselves as just "a bunch of ordinary voiceless powerless citizens of India, watching from afar how the 2G scam was unfolding." They have dig at the media for stories like 'Courtroom is a cool place for the 2G scam accused!' and 'A day in the life of the 2G scam accused in jail,' and how the wives, on the sly, feed oranges to the accused in court!'

"Wow! What a story! What amazing journalism," the authors remark and ask what happened to the rest of the companies involved in the 2 G scam.

One of the stories on the website is headlined: ' 2G Scam: Power of having big "Surname" in India like Tata, Birla and Ambani'

It says the recent scams in India not only tell about the free loot of scarce resources but also show the power of having big “Surnames” like Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis. "It seems that India has been taken over by corrupt politicians in alliance with corrupt bureaucrats and businessmen. Number of PSUs (Balco, VSNL, Modern Food, Hindustan Teleprinters, etc.) have been divested at throwaway prices. Since liberalization from “licence permit raj”, few industrial houses managed by people having big “Surnames”, have grown exceptionally by exploiting India's scarce resources, be it mines, oil, land, ports or spectrum, in alliance with the political masters.

"Small and medium entrepreneurs are going out of business, because of monopoly created by established industrial houses by lobbying with the government. When public becomes angry over revelations of such scandals, the strategy often employed is to start targeting second-tier selectively while protecting top-tier who can buy India democracy with the vast wealth gained by corruption. Recent example is 2G spectrum scam.

"When things were going as per the whims and fancies of Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis in telecom sector, there was no scam and no inquiry from CBI, ED, Income Tax, PAC or JPC. The moment new players entered in this sector, they were killed by these big people with the support of Indian bureaucratic system. People know that big corporate houses, like Ambanis, Tatas and Birlas, not only control the government but also play a major role in the formation of government and allocation of ministries, as apparent from the Radia leaked tapes."

The website has plentiful of stories like ‘2G scam and Admiral Gorshkov submarine deal connection’, ‘Sad learning from 2G scam case: punishment precedes trial’, and ‘Is Rs 1.76 lakh crores a loss to the exchequer or a gift that has been passed on to the public’.

Its main article on display is on the investigations and the third CBI chargesheet that was to be filed this week but got delayed by another week or so. It questions the criteria the CBI is following to put some of the 2G scam accused behind bars while allowing the rest to roam freely.

"The argument given by the various courts as a reason for not granting bail to any accused in the 2G spectrum scam case is that they might tamper with the evidence, if they are allowed to go out of the jail. Is it not unacceptable, then, that there are others who clearly seem to be a part of this case and have still not been charged by the CBI. Is there no possibility of these people destroying the evidence against them when they are still out? If at all it is possible for any accused in the 2G case to destroy evidence at this late stage, it would surely constitute a strong enough ground for the investigating agency to try to prevent such an outcome," says the website.

On the CBI clarifying all the misgivings in the third chargesheet, it asks: "Which new names is it talking about? Could it be Anil Ambani, Ratan Tata, Dayanidhi Maran, the Dhoots, the Ruias, Nira Radia etc? All these people are under suspicion."

It goes on to attack industrialists like Anil Ambani and Ratan Tata, asserting that Ambani is not out of the ambit of the CBI investigations since his senior officials are already arrested and the CBI says the Swan Telecom was set up by him, with a whole range of intermediate or fake companies.

It says the role of Ratan Tata is also under scrutiny. The fact that he wrote letters to M Karunanidhi praising A. Raja, the then telecom minister, and discussing a grant of Rs 20 crore from Tata Trusts for the Perambalur Medical College Hospital gives rise to suspicion regarding his involvement. Another important piece of information is that Tata appears to have given a very valuable property of Voltas in Chennai to Karunanidhi and the DMK for a song. This also needs to be probed.