The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said it would hear the Central Bureau of Investigation’s appeal against the acquittal of former Telecom Minister A Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case on a fast-track basis from February 7, 2019, reported ANI.
The Enforcement Directorate has also filed a similar plea in the Delhi High Court.
The court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to provide digitised records of the trial court proceedings in the case to A Raja, Kanimozhi and others, whose acquittal the investigation agency has challenged, PTI reported. The CBI has two weeks to provide the records and directed Raja and others to submit their replies within six weeks.
The court said the case was getting delayed because as Raja, Kanimozhi and the other accused have not yet replied to the CBI’s plea. On August, 10, the court had granted the accused extra time to file their replies, saying it would hear the matter after two months.
In December 2017, a special CBI court let off all the accused in the case, citing lack of evidence. Special CBI judge OP Saini also pulled up the CBI for misreading the case. “There is no evidence on the record produced before the Court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons,” he had said.
On March 12, the Supreme Court directed the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to complete their investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation cases and other related matters in six months.
The CBI has alleged a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer from the 2008 allocation of licences for 2G spectrum, which was scrapped by the top court in February 2012.
The court scheduled the next hearing for February 7.
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