Former telecom minister A. Raja, who has been in jail since February 2011 for alleged irregularities in allocation of telecom spectrum,on Tuesday was granted bail by a special CBI court. He is the last named in the case to be granted bail.
However, the bail is conditional; Raja cannot visit his home state of Tamil Nadu without first taking the court's permission.
He has been held in judicial custody in Tihar jail siince February 2011, though 13 others named in the case, such as Kanimozhi, daughter of Tamil Nadu's former chief minister and head of the DMK party M. Karunanidhi, were granted bail earlier. The DMK is an ally of the Congress party in the United Progressive Alliance which runs the national government, Raja has been accused of allegedly changing the rules from an auction process to a first-come, first-served one that gave most telecom operators barely enough time to raise the money and file applications. He has also been accused of favouring some telecom operators over others.
'The government should make adequate arrangements to make sure he is physically safe,' said Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy.
The trial of the 17 accused in what now popularly known as the '2G case' started in November 11 in a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's premier domestic intelligence agency.
Raja's actions are said to have cost the national exchequer as much as Rs1,76,000 crore in presumptive losses, according to a November 2010 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Subsequently, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal sought to blame the previous National Democratic Alliance government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying the actual loss was Rs1,43,000 crore.
In February 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences awarded in 2008 under Raja's tenure, and said the licences and spectrum must be re-allocated through an auction. It also dismissed all review petitions filed by telecom operators.
Former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura was granted bail last week, paving the way for Raja's release, as well. Indeed, this was the first time that Raja had even applied for bail. His lawyer also argued that Raja had been the most cooperative among the accused.
'The entire rank and file of the party is very happy,' said T.R. Baalu, a DMK MP and a former telecom minister himself.
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