11-11-11 Date: 2G Scam Trial Begins Today

The date 11-11-11 is being publicised all over the world as a special date in many ways. It can't be said whether all the significance attributed to this date is true, but for some people in India, it is definitely going to be a significant day. The trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case is beginning today (11November 2011) in a special court at New Delhi. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge OP Saini had earlier ordered the trial to commence on this day with all the accused declining to plead guilty to various offences. All the 14 individuals accused in the case are in judicial custody at Tihar jail.

The charges have been framed against all the 17 accused including former telecom minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and three corporate entities. While framing charges, the judge observed that there was prima facie evidence against Raja, his former private secretary RK Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura. The judge said evidence was also there against Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless. He said CBI had also given evidence to frame charges against three corporate executives of Reliance Group. Others against whom charges have been framed are Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa, their colleague Rajeev Agarwal, Unitech Ltd's Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty's Vinod Goenka.

The judge said there was also a prima facie evidence for framing charges against Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar and Cineyug founder Karim Morani. The CBI, in its first chargesheet filed on April 2, had charged Raja and others with criminal conspiracy and causing a huge loss to the exchequer by allocating spectrum to ineligible operators.

Video Source: newsxlive