Raja, aides in five-day CBI custody

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Former communications minister A. Raja and two of his aides were sent to five-day custody by a CBI special court Thursday, a day after they were arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

DMK leader Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and personal secretary R.K. Chandolia were handed down the sentence by Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge O.P. Saini at the Patiala House Court, where they were presented earlier.

Special CBI judge O.P. Saini said the plea for the custody of Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and personal secretary R.K. Chandolia was "justified".

While allowing the CBI plea for five-day police custody, Saini said: "The allegation against the accused are that they allotted the unified access service licences in violation of rules and procedures and caused huge loss estimated to be Rs.22,000 crore to the government."

"The allegation against the trio are very serious on the face of it and required no elaboration. Accordingly, considering the nature of the allegation, seriousness and gravity of offences, there is a consequent need of interrogation of the accused persons," he added.

"The prayer of police custody is justified and all three accused are accordingly remanded to police custody till Feb 8," Saini said.

All accused persons will be medically examined every 48 hours and their counsel and family members will be allowed to meet them for half an hour everyday at a time convenient to both the parties, Saini said.

The court, in the Patiala House court premises, also permitted Behura to be taken to the Indraprastha Apollo hospital on February 5 to meet his wife before and after her operation, if she undergoes one.

Raja quit on November 14 after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicted him for irregularities in the allocation of second generation (2G) spectrum to telecom companies, causing losses of between Rs.58,000 crore ($12.8 billion) and Rs.1.76 lakh crore ($40 billion) to the exchequer.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK came out in support of Raja and said his arrest in the 2G spectrum allocation scam did not make him guilty.