The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned former telecom minister A Raja, former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura and Gautam Doshi with regards to Loop Telecom’s association with Essar, sources said.
According to sources, a complaint regarding Loop’s irregularity in getting the license was made in 2010. It was Raja who allegedly closed the complaint file after taking opinion of the then Department of Telecom (DoT) legal advisor Santhok Singh.
The CBI questioned Raja if his intentions were malafide because ordinarily a vigilance level enquiry should have been ordered, it was reported. Behura also was questioned on the same issue.
Sources allege that Doshi was questioned because the complaint against Reliance Communications was a violation of Section 8 of the UASL guidelines vis-a-vis its relations with Swan Telecoms. The allegations are the same against Loop Telecom and Essar. The CBI wanted to know if he was aware of Loop using similar modus operandi as Reliance Communications.
The CBI on Saturday had sought permission from the court to interrogate the trio, who are currently in Tihar jail after the special CBI court sent them to judicial custody.
Special CBI Judge OP Saini allowed the application of the agency that in the interest of the case, it required to interrogate key accused afresh during the on-going probe.
The court also trashed the vehement plea of defence lawyers that they were in dark as to why the agency wanted to interrogate the accused again.
“It is between the court and the prosecution. Accused has no right to be heard in this regard at this stage. The application (of CBI) is allowed,” it said.
