2G: CBI quizzes honchos, Raja aides

New Delhi: Continuing its probe in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the CBI on Wednesday questioned two top telecom honchos besides close aides of former Telecom Minister A. Raja, including his brother Kaliaperumal.

The agency quizzed Chief Executive Officer of Loop Telecom Sandip Basu and Chairman of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Rajiv Mehrotra in connection with the scam, official sources said.

Basu, who arrived here early morning, was questioned in detail about his company, investments, financial dealings and relations with several big corporates of the country. He was also confronted with several documents seized during searches conducted by the CBI.

His company Loop had got licenses for 21 circles when the spectrum was allocated during the first stint of jailed former Telecom Minister Raja between September 2007-January 2008, they said.

Mehrotra, who came after Basu, was also confronted with several documents.

A joint venture between India's Shyam group and Russian giant Sistema, Sistema-Shyam is the only new telecom operator which is offering CDMA based services across the country.

It is alleged that undue haste was shown in issuing in principle approval for use of GSM technology to the company in one circle, the sources said.

During the day, the CBI also questioned Kaliaperumal, brother of A. Raja.

The CBI officials questioned Raja's close aide Sadiq Batcha in connection with the finances relating to his firms and his alleged proximity to the former telecom minister.

Batcha is the promoter of Green House Promoters, a Chennai-based export house, which has come under the scanner of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in the 2G spectrum case.

The probe agency had conducted searches at his official premises late last year.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/59277" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;cite&gt; &lt;code&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;dl&gt; &lt;dt&gt; &lt;dd&gt;</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-3a73d33943ecb6222f5560122c9f022f" value="form-3a73d33943ecb6222f5560122c9f022f" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80626101" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.