After ED grilling, Raja's brother faces CBI heat

A day after his interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the 2G probe, A Kalia Perumal, former telecom minister A Raja's brother, was grilled by the CBI sleuths on Wednesday.

A day after his interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the 2G probe, A Kalia Perumal, former telecom minister A Raja's brother, was grilled by the CBI sleuths on Wednesday.

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The CBI is looking into his stake in two companies, Green House Promoters and Equus Estates Private Limited, which were floated by Raja's close aide AM Sadick Batcha and his relatives. The CBI questioned Batcha also on Wednesday.

According to sources, Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB) promoter and now an accused in the 2G scam Shahid Usman Balwa had planned an investment in Green Hosue. But, the deal didn't make any headway.

Investigators suspect Raja might have used these two companies to park his ill-gotten money. Raja's wife MA Parameshwari was once a director in the company. A Kalia Perumal is also a director in Green House.

Green House was floated in 2004 when Raja became a minister in the UPA-1 government with a paid-up capital of R 1 lakh only. It is alleged that by 2008, Green House had got remittances of more than R100 crore from abroad. The company had opened an office in Singapore too and the ED is focusing on the firms operations there.

The CBI also questioned Loop Mobile CEO Sandip Basu and Shyam Systema CMD Rajiv Mehrotra.