SC tells CBI to act on 2 firms in spectrum case

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the CBI to take action in accordance with its outgoing director AP Singh's view on the prosecution of two telecom firms, their officials and public servants in connection with excess 2G spectrum allocation.

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the CBI to take action in accordance with its outgoing director AP Singh's view on the prosecution of two telecom firms, their officials and public servants in connection with excess 2G spectrum allocation during late Pramod Mahajan's tenure as the telecom minister.

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A special bench gave its orders after perusing the CBI report in which it had annexed the CBI chief's view and attorney general GE Vahanvati's opinion on proceeding against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar.

The directive would pave the way for the probe agency to chargesheet the two companies and public officials, including former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh.

According to the FIR, government officials and employees of Bharti Celluar (now known as Bharti Airtel) and Hutchinson Max and Sterling Cellular (now known as Vodafone Essar) colluded to allocate excess spectrum to the companies.