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Follow UsSimilarly, the special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), presided over by Judge O.P. Saini, also rejected pleas to include corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and Dayalu Ammal, wife of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, as co-accused.
In response to the demand to make Tatas and Nira Radia as accused in the case CBI said that Tata Telecom did not benefit in any way from the telecom scam and there was no irregularity in the granting of 2G licences to the Tata group.
“We've examined the issue in detail. There was no irregularity in the issuance of licenses to Tata Telecom,” said CBI.
"The applications are not only devoid of any substance, but are also contrary to law and deserve to be dismissed with heavy cost, as application after application of this nature are being filed by third parties resulting in loss of precious time," said Judge Saini.
"But I am inclined to take a lenient view as far as the cost is concerned. Accordingly, both applications are dismissed, subject to nominal cost of Rs.10,000 each," he said, asking them to deposit the money within three days or face attachment warrants.
The pleas were filed by Dharmender Pandey, a scrap dealer at Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh, who wanted the CBI to further probe the roles of Radia and Tata in the 2G case, and D. Furquan, a doctor in the same town, wanting similar action on Ambani and Dayalu Ammal.
The judge wondered why the applications were filed when it was in public knowledge that the probe agency was pursuing the matter and would investigate the issue further if and when required. He also questioned the timing since the third set of charges were due.
"The police case cannot be altered beyond recognition at the instance of third parties whose motives are unknown and are also not in possession of any new evidence," the judge further added.