Ailing Radia likely to skip Dec 5 deposition

Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, a prosecution witness in the 2G-spectrum allocation scam, has requested the trial court to postpone her appearance before it on December 5 and 6 on health grounds,

Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, a prosecution witness in the 2G-spectrum allocation scam, has requested the trial court to postpone her appearance before it on December 5 and 6 on health grounds.

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"Radia was called on December 5 and 6 by the 2G trial court to record her witness statement on oath and submit herself to cross-questioning. But she has given an affidavit that her appearance may be postponed as she underwent a surgery recently," said a CBI source. The prosecution had on Tuesday informed the court that Radia underwent a surgery related to neurological problem, said the source.

Prosecution witness number 44 in the case according to the CBI chargesheet, she had earlier recorded her testimony with the CBI in December 2010 and January 2011. Radia had said that an accused private telecom firm, facing trial in the 2G case, was not "eligible" to get the Unified Access Service licences.

Radia had also denied that she had approached DMK's Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, one of the case accused, to get telecom ministry for Raja in the Cabinet. According to her, Raja was "not interested" in telecom ministry.

According to her, former telecom minister A Raja had allegedly wrongly granted an in-principle approval for the use of dual technology to a telecom licencee, a day before the Department of Telecommunications announced the policy. Radia also claimed Raja had elevated a telecom official to a top position in TRAI as part of his alleged "wrongdoing".