CBI raids on Radia, Trai’s ex-chief, Raja-linked firms

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The media gathered outside ATS Village in Noida, on Delhi’s outskirts, where the CBI conducted a raid on former Trai chairman .

The CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at the offices and residential premises of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradip Baijal and several Chennai-based companies with which former communications minister A. Raja and his family and associates are allegedly linked in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.
CBI sleuths conducted searches at 34 places in Tamil Nadu, Delhi and UP’s Noida, adjoining Delhi, and reportedly recovered a large number of incriminating documents. The CBI, assisted by the Enforcement Directorate, also conducted searches at the residences of two alleged hawala operators in New Delhi’s Friends Colony, Chawri Bazar and Patparganj areas. Sources said the searches were conducted to trace probable links between them and Mr Raja as well as his family members.
The sources said: “On the basis of initial questioning and documents recovered during searches from the residential premises of the alleged hawala operators, the CBI will soon make certain arrests.” Both the agencies — CBI and ED — are cooperating with each other in the probe to investigate the possibility of alleged money-laundering in the 2G scam involving Mr Raja, the sources said. The CBI may soon arrest some top officials of the department of telecommunications, the sources said, adding that the matter was being discussed at a higher governmental level.
The CBI raids, for the second time in a fortnight at the residences and business establishments of Mr Raja, his associates and close relatives, sent shockwaves among his friends and relatives. Those who hitherto had taken pride in claiming that Mr Raja was very close to them have now started disowning the relationship.
In Chennai, CBI officials raided the residence of Mr Raja’s brother A. Ramchandran, director of the Centre for Climate Change at Anna University, apart from the office of Father Jagath Gasper Raj, managing trustee, Tamil Maiyam, and the residence of A. Kamaraj, associate editor of Nakkeeran. All of them are believed to be close to Mr Raja and the “second family” of chief minister M. Karunanidhi.
Wednesday’s raids by the CBI was the second such action in relation to the 2G spectrum scam. CBI sleuths from New Delhi conducted raids at Mr Ramachandran’s house for over four hours in Chennai’s Kotturpuram area from Wednesday morning. The officials grilled Mr Kamaraj for nearly six hours and then took him from his house at Besant Nagar to a bank where he held some accounts.
While a section of the media reported that Mr Kamaraj’s wife was working at Niira Radia’s Vaishnavi Communications in Chennai, Nakkeeran editor Gopal, in a statement, said that neither Mr Kamaraj nor his family had any connections with firms belonging to Mr Raja or Ms Radia. The CBI team went to the office of an NGO, Tamil Maiyam, in Mylapore. Father Jagath Gasper Raj is its managing trustee, while Mr Karunanidhi’s daughter and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi is an active associate. Father Jagath Gasper Raj was grilled for over eight hours. The officials left with some documents in the evening.
CBI officials also carried out searches at the premises and business establishments of Mr Raja’s brother and close relatives and business associates in Tiruchy, Perambalur and Ariyalur on Wednesday. A five-member team of the investigative agency searched the premises of Mr Raja’s brother Ramachandran at Periyar Nagar in Thiruvanaikoil in Tiruchy and his sister Saroja at Ganapathy Nagar in Thiruvanaikoil, in Tiruchy, and seized some documents from Saroja’s house. The sleuths also verified some bank accounts at the State Bank of India branch at Thiruvanaikoil. Simultaneously, an eight-member CBI team carried out searches at Mr Raja’s ancestral house in Velur and that of business associate Sadiq Basha’s aide and henchman Subbudu, alias Subramanian, at Muthu nagar in Perambalur.
“The CBI sleuths also interrogated Mr Subbudu for three hours. They also quizzed Mr Jamal and Mr Jaffar Ali, brothers of Mr Sadiq Basha, and Mr Dinesh and Mr David, managers of Sadiq Real Estate. Later, the CBI sleuths took away Mr Subbudu, Mr Jaffar and Mr David and conducted a search at the office of Mr Subbudu at Poosari Theru in Perambalur,” the sources said. The CBI also searched business establishments run by Mr Raja’s brother Kaliyaperumal in Perambalur, Sivakamam Traders, in Ariyalur, Sivakamam Agency in Vadakku Madhavi Road in Perambalur and Sivakamam Motors on Tiruchy Road in Perambalur. Another CBI team conducted a search at the residence of Mr Ramasamy in Arumadal village, near Perambalur. Mr Ramasamy is the father-in-law of Mr Kannan, an associate of Sadiq Basha.
In New Delhi, speaking to reporters, CBI inspector-general Binita Thakur said: “The CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at the residential and official premises of several companies, their directors and the former Trai chairman as part of the followup of searches conducted on December 8, 2010 in connection with the ongoing investigation into the allocation of unified access service licences.” The CBI had earlier registered a case against “unknown officials” of the department of telecommunications and “unknown private persons, companies and others” under different sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act over alleged irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum licences, she added.
Sources said Ms Radia’s Vaishnavi Corporate Communications office in New Delhi’s Connaught Place area and her Chhattarpur farmhouse were among the first premises to be searched by the CBI. Agency officials also searched the homes of certain persons closely associated with the handling of accounts and funds of the former communications minister, the sources added.
The sources said Ms Radia, Mr Baijal and the two alleged hawala dealers were questioned by CBI officials during the raids and would be subjected to further formal questioning.
Mr Baijal’s residence in Noida was among the places searched by CBI officials. A former IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Mr Baijal is currently working for Ms Radia’s firm Noesis. The allegation against him is that as Trai chairman he had helped some telecom firms. He had also earlier been questioned by the CBI.
Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, in a statement issued on Wednesday evening, said: “We have extended all cooperation to the authorities and will continue to do so in the ongoing investigations.”