NEW DELHI: DMK leader and former Union minister T R Baalu, a member of the JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probing the telecom scam, visited his jailed party colleagues M K Kanimozhi and A Raja along with Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar at the CBI’s special court hearing the 2G spectrum case on Tuesday afternoon and held a meeting with them. His visit assumed significance as earlier in the day he had attended a JPC meeting where CBI director A P Singh deposed for the first time making a detailed presentation on the probe into the 2G scam.Baalu reached the court at 3.10pm and sat next to Raja. Soon an animated discussion began between Baalu, Raja, Kanimozhi and Sharad, which went on till the court adjourned at around 3.30 pm. They were reportedly discussing the CBI chief’s deposition.During the discussion, Shahid Balwa of DB Realty and co-accused in the case, also interacted briefly with Baalu asking for some information. He had already written a letter to the JPC Chairman P C Chacko seeking permission to depose before the parliamentary committee. However Chacko has yet to take a decision on the issue. The intention behind Balwa’s eagerness to depose before the JPC when his case is to be heard in the trial court is unclear.For the 2G accused, especially former telecom minister Raja, the JPC proceedings are critical as per its terms of reference (TOR), it is also mandated to probe the tenures of his predecessors in the ministry between 2001 and 2007. His immediate predecessor, party colleague Dayanidhi Maran, has already come under the CBI scanner for his alleged role in the Aircel-Maxis deal and also for stealing BSNL telephone lines.PAC (Parliament Accounts Committee) Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, whose committee had earlier examined the 2G scam losses, had already held Maran responsible for ‘paving’ way for Raja to commit his alleged crime of manipulating telecom rules and policies thereby causing huge losses to the exchequer. Maran, during his tenure, had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting that telecom policy decisions be taken out of the purview of the Group of Ministers (GoM).Since all these allegations will be discussed in detail during the JPC proceedings, Raja had already planned to approach the high court to stay the present trial till the committee finalises its report.
Comments
0 comment