2G spectrum case: Court to decide on bail plea of 5 on April 20

NEWDELHI: A Delhi court will rule on bail applications of five corporate executives accused in the 2G spectrum scam on April 20, after the country's federal investigating agency on Friday sought their detention to prevent them from influencing witnesses and going into hiding in order to avoid trial.

Justice OP Saini of the CBI special court reserved orders on the bail application of executives from Swan Telecom, now known as Etisalat DB, Unitech Wireless or Uninor and from the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance ADA group, after listening to arguments from both sides that spanned more than three hours.

Public prosecutor U U Lalit opposed the bail applications of the five executives - D B Realty MD and Swan Telecom director Vinod Goenka, Unitech Wireless managing director Sanjay Chandra and three officials of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group--Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair--on the ground they were involved in a "scam of such magnitude that it impacted the credibility of all corporate India".

"Millions of shareholders have been duped and the credibility of the nation has been hit (because of the 2G scam). This must be considered as the most serious of serious cases," Lalit said. He also drew comparisons with the Satyam Computer Services scandal and pointed out that the accused in that case -Ramilinga Raju, the company's founder - had not been given bail when the investigations were on.

But KTS Tulsi and Ranjit Kumar, representing Sanjay Chandra and Reliance Telecom executives, respectively, pointed out that the Satyam chairman had been arrested when the investigation was on and not after the charge sheet had been filed.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vinod Goenka said the CBI had failed to produce any evidence to prove his client could influence witnesses.

"All of them (the accused) have joined the investigations, have good reputations in society, appeared on summons of the investigating agencies and the court and charges against them are for non-serious offences punishable for only up to seven years," Rohtagi said.

He criticised the CBI for stating in its reply that 'judicial custody will facilitate speedy trial' saying that the accused should not be in jail when they had not been proved guilty.

"The presumption of innocence is in our favour - this presumption cannot be replaced just because there is so much hype on 2G." Rohatgi added.