'Raja tried to influence judge'

2G Spectrum scam-tainted former telecom minister A Raja seems to have crossed wires with the judiciary last year, seeking to influence a Madras HC judge in a criminal case. HT reports.

2G Spectrum scam-tainted former telecom minister A Raja seems to have crossed wires with the judiciary last year, seeking to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case.

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Madras High Court judges FM Ibrahim Khalifullah and MM Sundaresh said in an order on Tuesday that Raja had approached judge S Raghupathy through a senior advocate in a bid to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a father-son duo accused of tampering with the son’s marks in an MBBS exam in Puducherry.

Soon after the judges delivered their order on a petition seeking action against lawyer K Chandramohan, who allegedly acted as Raja’s conduit, the high court suspended the senior advocate from the bar.

The two judges said Chandramohan had entered Raghupati’s chamber during the lunch break and pleaded for anticipatory bail for the accused, as they were “family friends of a union minister by the name of A Raja”.

Raghupati had mentioned the incident in a letter to the then Chief Justice of India in July 2009 but had refrained from naming the minister.

Raghupati wrote to the CJI that Chandramohan met him and handed him his mobile phone, saying the minister was on the line and wanted to talk to him. “Right away, I discouraged Chandramohan and told him the case would be disposed of in accordance with the law if listed before me,” the judge said in his letter to the CJI.

Raja, however, claimed he had never authorised anyone to speak or negotiate with judges on his behalf.