Court sends ex-telecom minister Raja to Tihar Jail

IANS/New Delhi

Wearing a dark grey safari suit, Raja looked calm and collected, his face betraying no emotion as the order came.

Raja was arrested earlier this month for allegedly showing "undue favouritism” while granting telecom licences to companies in 2008, which cost the government about $40bn in potential revenue.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O P Saini sent Raja to judicial custody until March 3 as the investigation agency did not seek any further remand for interrogation.

The court allowed Raja to have home-cooked food, reading glasses and medicines in the jail.

Raja arrived at the jail in west Delhi around 6pm.

"He is in Jail No1,” said Sunil Gupta, Tihar Jail spokesperson. Jail No1 is meant for high-profile prisoners.

As the order came, Raja, who seemed very relaxed, shook hands with many of his supporters who had arrived in hordes to express their support for their leader. Most of his supporters have been thronging the court.

Many of them were seen touching his feet and taking his blessing. One of his supporters had Raja’s photograph in his shirt pocket and said the minister is "our god”.

After the judge issued the order in the packed courtroom, a posse of policemen led Raja away. He was kept in the lock-up along with petty criminals who were all waiting to be taken to Tihar Jail in the evening.

In the jail, he would be kept away from his ex-colleagues, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and `s former personal secretary R K Chandolia. On February 8, they were also sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

On Wednesday, the CBI questioned Raja and Reliance Communication’s Anil Ambani together for an hour. Ambani was reportedly questioned in connection with his company Reliance Communications being looked at as a beneficiary of 2G spectrum licence.

The investigating agency is questioning all telecom players which got licences. The key issue the agency wanted to ask Ambani was about Reliance Communications’ investment in Swan Telecom.

The CBI also wanted to check if Reliance met all the eligibility norms or if they were favoured by Raja.

The promoter of Swan Telecom, Shahid Balwa, was arrested by the CBI last week and has also been questioned.

The CBI has accused the DMK leader of criminal conspiracy. It says Raja twisted the rules to benefit a few companies - especially Swan and Unitech.

Raja was arrested on February 2 for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal, and remanded in CBI custody initially for five days.

Raja, a member of Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, was asked to resign on November 14 last year after the Comptroller and Auditor General indicted him in the scam for causing the nation huge losses.

On February 8, his remand was extended for two more days after the agency told the court that he was not co-operating during questioning and was being evasive.

The former minister’s custody was extended by two more days on February 10 on the CBI’s plea. On February 14, the court again extended his custody with the CBI for three more days.