Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani failed to get any relief on Wednesday against the summons issued to him for appearance before a trial court here on Thursday to depose as a prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. The Supreme Court declined to stay the summons following which the special CBI court conducting the trial dismissed the plea seeking that the date of his deposition be postponed.
A bench of the top court headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi declined to pass an order on a plea by Mr Ambani’s firm Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) seeking a stay on the summons issued by the trial court. Following the development in the Supreme Court, special CBI judge O.P. Saini, who has been conducting trial in the case, dismissed RTL’s plea seeking that the date of Ambani’s examination in court be postponed. The trial court said no prejudice would be caused to any accused by examination of the 13 additional witnesses, including Anil Ambani and his wife Tina, as sought by the CBI.
“I see no reason as to how any prejudice would be caused to the accused, if these witnesses are examined now... Furthermore, the witness for Thursday (Anil Ambani) has already been served and an accommodation was granted to him earlier also when he was summoned for July 26. At that time also, the accused had not stated that examination of these witnesses would cause prejudice to it,” Justice Saini said.
“Since no prayer has been made by Anil Ambani, who is to appear as witness Thursday, and plea of Tina Ambani, who is to appear as witness on Friday, is pending disposal, I do not wish to say anything more, more so when the instant application has been moved by an accused and not by any witness,” he said.