'CBI shielding 7 telecom firms in spectrum scam'

Former telecom minister A Raja’s ex-private secretary RK Chandolia said the CBI is shielding seven other telecom operators who had got 2G-spectrum licenses in addition with Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless.

Former telecom minister A Raja’s ex-private secretary RK Chandolia said the CBI is shielding seven other telecom operators who had got 2G-spectrum licenses in addition with Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless. The latter are chargesheeted in 2G-spectrum scam.

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The CBI has alleged that 9 telecom operators have caused loss in excess of Rs 30,000 crore to the exchequer in 2G scam.

Vijay Aggarwal, counsel for Chandolia, told the special CBI judge OP Saini that the investigation agency has firmly protected the interest of Loop telecom and Datacom.

“Till date no chargesheet has been filed against these two telecom operators and others,” he said.

Chandolia’s counsel cited the statement of prosecution witness Shiv Kumar Sharma who said that Venugopal Dhoot, an industrialist, was also present at the DoT headquarters on the date of award of LoIs and ensured that "Datacom was first everywhere."