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2G case: The trial that brought top babus, corporate bigwigs to court
Those who deposed included former TRAI chairman Nripendra Mishra, former telecom secretary DS Mathur, former Attorney General late GE Vahanwati and DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal.
Political bigwigs, top bureaucrats and high and mighty of the corporate world deposed as witnesses in the 2G spectrum case that saw all the accused being acquitted by a special court on Thursday.
Those acquitted included former telecom minister A Raja and DMK leader Kanimozhi
Those who deposed on behalf of the CBI included former TRAI chairman Nripendra Mishra, who is now principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former telecom secretary DS Mathur, former Attorney General late GE Vahanwati, former law secretary TK Vishwanathan, former Governor of Reserve Bank of India Dr D Subba Rao, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, ADAG chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina and DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal.
Dayalu Ammal’s statement was recorded in Chennai, for which the judge, the accused and their advocates travelled to the city after permission from the top court.
In a rare move, two of the accused – A Raja and RK Chandolia – volunteered to be examined as defence witnesses in the case under section 315 of the Criminal Procedure Code. They gave up their right to remain silent provided under the Article 20 (3) of the Constitution.
The trial began on November 11, 2011 when the first evidence was recorded in the case and the last witness deposed on January 30, 2015. In all, the CBI presented 155 witnesses to prove its case in the court. Their statements alone ran into about 5000 pages.
Statement of one particular witness, AK Srivastava, a department of telecom official, ran into over 350 pages.
Final arguments in the case started in 2016 and went on for almost a year before concluding on April 25 this year.
