NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday found itself in a bind over 2G spectrum allocation to private firms during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registering a fresh case into the role of late Pramod Mahajan between 2001-03 when he headed the telecom ministry.
The investigation agency also raided offices of private telecom firms in Mumbai and Gurgaon apart from residences of former telecom officials in connection with the case Saturday.
“The agency has registered a case in the allocation of additional spectrum today during the NDA’s rule,” said a CBI official.
Among the offices raided were that of Vodafone in Mumbai, and Airtel in Gurgaon. The residences of Shyamal Ghosh, a former telecom secretary and chairman of telecom commission and J.R. Gupta, a deputy director general in the department of telecom, too came under CBI searches. A total of five places were searched, the official said.
“The agency also raided the Vodafone office in Mumbai, Airtel office in Gurgaon and residences of Shyamal Ghosh and J.R. Gupta,” the official added.
The case was registered under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and sections 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act against the two former telecom officials and three private cellular companies — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, and Vodafone Essar Mobile Services — and others Thursday, the official said.
The case has been registered for allegations of irregularities in the grand of additional 2G spectrum and causing a loss of approximately Rs.508 crore between 2001 and 2007, CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said.
Mishra went on to say that late Pramod Mahajan’s name does not find a mention in the case “as he is no more”. (IANS)
