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Follow UsJustice Ajit Bharihoke denied bail to Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra of Unitech and three officials of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group -- Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara.
They are among 14 individuals and three companies charged of rigging a 2007/08 grant of lucrative telecoms licences. The scandal may have cost state coffers as much as $39 billion in lost revenue, a sum equivalent to the country's defence budget.
Bharihoke said the accused were highly influential persons who could try to influence witnesses, especially those in their companies, if released on bail.
"Taking into account the gravity of the accusation against the petitioners, a reasonable possibility of their interfering with the process of justice by tampering with the evidence, I do not deem it appropriate to release the petitioners on bail," he said in his 34-page long order.
A.Raja, Kanimozhi arrested over 2G spectrum scam
Police have already arrested former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, a member of government ally DMK party, and Kanimozhi, the lawmaker daughter of the DMK chief, straining ties between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party and its second-biggest partner in the ruling coalition.
But few expect the DMK to pull out of the government, as the party is weakened following the loss in elections in its bastion state of Tamil Nadu last month. Both Congress and DMK officials have said the coalition is intact.
The telecoms scandal is the largest of the several that have emerged in Singh's second term and has weakened the government's political authority and spooked investors.
Attacked by a resurgent opposition, policy-making has drifted into limbo and the government has had its energies diverted from pushing forward reforms like freeing up controls on diesel prices or allowing foreign investment into supermarkets.
The case has also spooked investors after a series of questioning of tycoons, including Reliance ADA's billionaire chairman Anil Ambani, a rare event in India where top businessmen are seen as beyond the reach of police.
All accused have denied any wrongdoing. The executives can now appeal to the Supreme Court. Separately, Kanimozhi, who was arrested on Friday, appealed to the Delhi High Court for bail.
After the order, shares in Reliance Communications , the telecoms venture of the Reliance ADA group, fell 3.4 per cent. Unitech shares were down 6 percent, while those in DB Realty , the listed firm of the DB group, dropped 7.5 per cent