Raja sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody till March 3

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Former telecom minister A. Raja is taken away after being produced at Patiala House court from CBI HQ

After facing sustained custodial interrogation for 14 days at the CBI headquarters over his role in 2G spectrum allocation scam, former telecom minister A. Raja was on Thursday sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody by a Delhi court.

"The accused is remanded in judicial custody till March 3," Special CBI judge O.P. Saini said, remanding Raja into 14-days' judicial custody on CBI plea.

The CBI sought judicial custody for the former minister saying the investigation in the case was not yet complete.

While remanding Raja into judicial custody, the court also directed the Tihar Jail authorities to allow the former minister to have access to home-made food in jail besides his medicines and reading glasses.

The court gave this direction to the jail superintendent on a plea made by Raja's counsel Ramesh Gupta.

In an application to the court, Gupta sought the court's direction to the prison authorities to allow his client to have home-cooked food, medicines and use his reading glasses.

"The accused has a history of acid reflux disorder, irritable syndrome, claustrophobia and other related medical disorders since 2002 for which he has been under medication.

"Owing to the said medical condition of the applicant, he has been advised to take only home-cooked food along with the medicines prescribed for the medical condition," the application filed by Raja said.

The court accepted DMK leader's plea, saying "the jail superintendent is directed to consider the application as per the jail manual."

Raja was arrested on February 2, along with former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and his former personal secretary R.K. Chandolia, for their alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation scam, which, as per CBI, has caused a pecuniary loss of Rs. 22,000 crore to the state exchequer.

The former minister is alleged to have manipulated rules to favour some telecom companies, including Swan Telecom and Unitech Private Limited, in allocation of the spectrum at throwaway prices.