Delhi High Court will hear bail pleas of Kanimozhi today

The Delhi High Court will hear on Friday bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozhi and five other accused in the 2G case, advancing the hearing of their petitions from December one.

"All the bail applications would be heard on today" Justice V K Shali said on Thursday.

The accused, who included former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and filmmaker Karim Morani, had pleaded that their bail applications should come up on Thursday itself but the court said they will be taken up on Friday, advancing the date of their hearing from December one.

Others whose bail pleas will be heard on Friday are DMK-run Kaliagnar TV MD Sharad Kumar and private firm Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd directors Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal.

During the proceedings, former Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Kanimozhi and Morani repsectively, submitted that the situation of their clients was akin to that of the five corporate executives, who were granted bail yesterday by
the Supreme Court.

"We are either similarly or better placed in relation to the accused who have already been granted bail. If possible, please list them for hearing on Thursday itself," Luthra said.

"Don't send a wrong message to the general public that you are high and mighty," the court said while refusing to accede to their contention.

Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, appearing for CBI, cited the apex court judgement on the bail applications of the five corporate executives, He, however, did not make his stand clear on whether he was supporting or opposing their petitions.

Court begins trial in 2G case today

Trial on today commenced in a Delhi court in the 2G spectrum allocation case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, corporate honchos and telecom firms are among the high-profile accused.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini started recording statement of Anand Subramaniam, Assistant Vice President of Reliance Capital Ltd, as a prosecution witness.

The court had also summoned for today two other prosecution witnesses -- Group President of Reliance A N Sethuraman and Chief Regulatory Officer of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd Vinod Kumar Budhiraja -- for their examination.

The CBI, in its first list, had submitted names of 28 persons to be examined as prosecution witnesses before the court in the month of November.

The court after framing charges against 17 accused, including three telecom firms, had slated the trial to begin from Friday.

In the first list, out of 28, 11 witnesses are from Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) which suggest that the agency wants to deal first with the charges against accused firms Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and Shahid Usman Balwa promoted Swan Telecom.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the court had framed charges against Reliance ADAG Managing Director Gautam Doshi, its Group President Surendra Pipara, its senior Vice President Hari Nair, Shahid Usman Balwa, Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani.

Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's former Private Secretary R K Chandolia, directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, and three telecom firms -- RTL, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd have also been put on trial in the case.

The charges framed against all the accused under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act deal with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant.

The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.

2G: Raja seeks permission to appear in SC

Former telecom minister A Raja, the prime accused in the 2G spectrum case on Wednesday filed a petition in the Patiala House Court seeking permission to appear in the Supreme Court on Monday.

A Raja had told a Delhi court earlier on Friday that he would not respond to CBI's fresh plea to invoke additional charge of criminal breach of trust against all the accused till the agency stated that its probe in the 2G spectrum allocation scam was over.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who was to receive replies of 17 accused including Raja on the plea of CBI, was taken aback when senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for the DMK leader, had said he would not participate in hearings till CBI clarified its position on the status of probe.

"I am taking a very clear stand that till the time CBI files an affidavit or says it on oath here that investigation is complete or going on, I am not going to participate in the proceedings of this case," Kumar had said.