Former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in the 2G spectrum scam case, failed to obtain any relief, with a special CBI court on Friday dismissed his bail application, observing that the accused may influence the witnesses if released on bail.
Interestingly, so far none of the accused in the 2G scam have been granted bail by either the special Patiala House CBI court or the Delhi high court, and they all are lodged in the high security Tihar jail, including former telecom minister A. Raja, Rajya Sabha DMK MP Kanimozhi, Asif Balwa and Shahid Balwa.
After the court dismissed Behura’ bail plea, senior criminal lawyer Aman Lekhi, appearing for Behura, told this newspaper, “I will challenge the special CBI judge’s order in the Delhi high court very soon, but only after going through the judgment thoroughly. My client has suffered a lot.”
He, however, has refused to divulge more information about the issue.
Rejecting the bail plea of the accused, special CBI judge O.P. Saini, said, “Considering the magnitude of the crime and the nature of the allegation, character of the evidence on record and the apprehension that the witness may be influenced if the accused is released on bail, I have no hesitation in holding the applicant/accused as failed to make out the case for bail. The bail application is without merit and is dismissed.”
The court on May 27 had reserved its order till June 3 on the bail application of Behura, following the CBI’s argument that the accused should not be granted bail seeing the gravity of the alleged offence committed by him. Vehemently opposing the bail plea of Behura, the CBI prosecutor, A.K. Singh, said, “The accused did not put any checks and balances on Raja’s “misdeeds” during grant of licences though he enjoyed maximum executive powers in the department of telecommunication (DoT).” The probe agency claimed that Behura followed the policy of the former telecom minister (Raja) blindly and not the policy of the government.
The CBI further argued that the allegations against Behura are serious in nature. In this case, the apprehension that the accused if released on bail would, in all likelihood, avail the opportunity to corrupt the prosecution witnesses by tampering with their testimony could not be ruled out.
Rejecting the contentions of the CBI, Mr Lekhi, had cited many reasons like his retirement from service, wife’s suffering from cancer as one of the merits for the eligibility for bail. The application also said that, as an official, he was just obeying the minister.
“Being the secretary of the DoT at that time, he had only implemented the policy which was finalised by the cabinet. “Therefore, why should he be made as an accused in the case as he has only performed his duty? He should be released as he is just a small cog in the wheel,” Mr Lekhi submitted.
The CBI, however, countered this by saying that as per the service conduct rules, he was not obliged to follow the illegal orders of the minister.
Dismissing the bail plea, the court said corruption among public servants is on rise and it is eating into the vitals of the country. “It is no exaggeration that it adversely affects the economy of the country and considering the magnitude of the corruption, the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act are viewed seriously,” the court observed.