Coal scam case: Next hearing on 10 Dec
The charge framing is once again deferred in the high profile coal scam case in CBI Special Court in Asansol today as one of the main accused Bikash Mishra was not present in the court.
Pulling up CBI and ED over the delay in the alleged 2G scam probe, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the agencies to complete the investigations within six months.
In its order, the apex court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if there were any “invisible hands” that were stalling the probe.
In December 2017, a special court had acquitted all the accused in the scam, giving a major relief to former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi who were jailed on charges of taking kickbacks to issue the telecom spectrum and licences in 2008 at throwaway prices.
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Special Judge OP Saini said the CBI and the ED had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges against 33 persons named in the case that contributed to the Congress-led UPA’ electoral loss in 2014.
Judge Saini pulled up the CBIbecause it had “miserably failed” to prove any charge against any accused in its “well choreographed” chargesheet.
The so-called scam came to light after the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report in 2010 claimed that the Telecom Ministry had caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer by allocating 2G spectrum and licences to some companies at throwaway prices.
The BJP raked the alleged coalition vociferously in Parliament, accusing then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of choosing to stay silent.
Raja was accused of bending and modifying rules for a chosen few and was alleged to have received kickbacks in the form of Rs 200 crore loan funnelled into DMK’s Kalaingar TV. Raja eventually became the face of the scam.
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