Raja wants PM in witness box

After DMK MP Kanimozhi, jailed former communications minister A. Raja Wednesday informed a Delhi court that he would call Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as witness in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Raja, presently lodged in Tihar Jail along with other accused in the case, told a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court that apart from the prime minister he would seek the presence of the then finance minister P. Chidambaram and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal in the witness box.

He said he would call these witnesses to prove that the government did not incur any loss in the 2G spectrum allocation.

Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, informed CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini that he may get permission under section 311 (power to summon material witness) of Criminal Procedure Code to issue summons to the prime minister, the then finance Minister and the present communications minister as witnesses.

"The moment it is established that there was no loss to the state exchequer, the whole case of cheating and conspiracy in the spectrum allocation will go," said Sushil Kumar.

He said that the prime minister and the two others were the correct people to establish the real facts.

He said Raja would move an application for getting certain documents from the CBI which had so far not been brought before the court.

"The CBI have more than 45,000 documents in their custody which they have not produced before the court till date," said Sushil Kumar.

Seeking discharge in the 2G scam, Raja said he was made to pay a price for annoying the big players in the telecom sector.

"Raja's case is nothing but witch hunting by the older players, who invested money," said Sushil Kumar.

Defence counsel sought to demolish the CBI allegation that Raja took bribe and said that the agency should explain as to why a minister would take bribe in instalments, through cheques and that too in the form of a loan.

He was referring to the CBI allegation that the DMK-controlled Kalaignar TV took Rs.200 crore as bribe through various firms of Shahid Usman Balwa, an alleged beneficiary of the scam.

Raja's counsel also alleged that so far as other companies like Unitech Wireless were concerned, the CBI had failed to establish "any motive or consideration" for the grant of licence.

He alleged that even if the loss theory of the CBI is assumed to be correct, then why were only two companies, Swan Telecom and Unitech, before this court.

He contended that the CBI seized documents pertaining to Loop Telecom, Spice Communications, Idea Cellular and other firms but has not decided about its future course of action regarding those companies.

"How many trials would I be facing as for the last two years the CBI has failed to decide the fate of the seized documents pertaining to other telecom companies," Raja said.

Kanimozhi Tuesday sought to drag the prime minister into the 2G case expressing her intention to make him a witness. "If the trial goes on (against me), I would summon the prime minister as a witness," she told the court.