2G: Court defers hearing on Swamy's plea

A Delhi court today deferred till May 26 the hearing on a private complaint in the 2G case filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.

A Delhi court on Saturday deferred till May 26 the hearing on a private complaint in the 2G case filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.

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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge OP Saini listed the matter for May 26 after Swamy’s counsel Tarun Goomber said that the plea for making home minister P Chidambaram a co-accused in the case was pending before the Supreme Court.

The court also granted exemption from personal appearance to Swamy after his counsel said that he was in Chennai.

The court, while dismissing his plea for making Chidambaram a co-accused in the case, listed his private complaint for Saturday as he had some additional allegations against jailed accused and former telecom minister A Raja.

Swamy had sought to make Chidambaram, then finance minister, a co-accused in the case, contending that he and Raja had committed irregularities in allotting 2G licences in 2008 at lower-than-market prices.

The court dismissed it saying that there was no material on record to suggest that Chidambaram was acting with such corrupt or illegal motives.

According to the government auditor, the 2G spectrum allocation case, allegedly masterminded by Raja, pertained to biased distribution of mobile airwaves and operating licences, in lieu of kickbacks, to telecom firms that could have cost the treasury up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore in lost revenue.

Nineteen individuals and six companies are accused in the case. Fourteen were arrested, and of them except for Raja and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, the others have been released on bail.