2G Scam: CBI files first charge sheet, names Raja as 'mastermind'

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in its first charge sheet on 2G scam, accused former Union Minister and DMK leader A Raja of being the 'master mind' of the conspiracy in relation to the scandal.

Corporate companies -- Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom, and Unitech Wireless along with eight persons are charged as co-accused in the case. Former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty boss, its MD Vinod Goenka, and Swan Telecom MD Shahid Balwa are named in the charge sheet.

The 2008-2G case is an alleged corrupt sale of telecommunications bandwidth to selected organisations at prices that understated the real market value of the asset.

The sale is claimed to have occurred when Raja headed the Telecommunications and IT Ministry; it has been considered the largest political corruption case in modern Indian history, amounting to around Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

On December 21, 2017 , a Delhi court acquitted all accused, including Raja and DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Special Judge O.P. Saini said the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges against 33 persons named in the case and the court has "absolutely no hesitation in holding that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any accused".

In his 1,552-page judgment, the judge said it was actually confusion caused by "various actions and inactions" of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) that snowballed into a "huge scam seen by everyone where there was none".

He said many facts in the prosecution's "well choreographed chargesheet" were found to be incorrect. "All the accused are acquitted."

The court also let off 19 accused, including Raja and Kanimozhi, in a related money laundering case probed by the Enforcement Directorate.