NEW DELHI, Oct 21: A special court has rejected a plea of Unitech Limited Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, facing trial in 2G spectrum allocation case, to go abroad saying it “smacks of casual attitude” as no proper documents support it.
Special CBI judge O P Saini dismissed the application filed by Chandra in which he sought the court’s permission to travel to Dubai, Edinburgh, Frankfurt and Hong Kong from October 25 to November 3 for business purpose.
“I have carefully considered the submissions made at the bar and with all reluctance at my command, I find myself in agreement with the special public prosecutor that the application smacks of casual attitude, not being supported by appropriate documents and the two documents are photocopies, the genuineness of which has been seriously disputed at the bar,” the judge said.
“Accordingly, the application is dismissed,” the court said and gave the liberty to Chandra to file a fresh application supported by proper documents.
During arguments on the plea, Chandra’s counsel told the court that being the managing director of the company, his presence was necessary at these places for the purpose of his business.
Special public prosecutor Anand Grover opposed the plea pointing out deficiencies in the documents filed in support of the application and said Chandra may misuse his liberty.
He also alleged that the documents filed in support of the plea do not appear to be genuine and have been created at the instance of accused to facilitate his travel abroad.
The prosecutor also expressed doubts on genuineness of two photocopies filed with the plea indicating business purpose and claimed that “the court is being taken for a ride”.
Chandra, along with others, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi, is facing trial in the 2G case.
Besides Raja, Kanimozhi and Chandra, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, are facing trial in the case.
Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case.
Besides these 14 accused, three telecom firms Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd are also facing trial in the case.
The court had on October 22, 2011 framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.
The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel