Telecom Lead India: The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) plans to file a chargesheet against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India over
multiple cases related to the alleged irregularities in allocation of
additional 2G spectrum to during former telecom minister Pramod Mahajan’s
tenure.
We are about to complete our investigation in the Bharti
and Vodafone cases,” said a senior official.
In December 2010, the Supreme Court directed CBI to probe
irregularities in the grant of spectrum between 2001 and 2007. The CBI
registered case against these operators in November last year and conducted
searches at their offices.
The official added that all accused named in the FIR are
likely to be charged but a final decision will be taken after we finalize the
report.
The agency questioned officials of both companies and
retired and serving officials of the department of telecommunications (DoT).
The FIR reads that former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh
and former DoT deputy director general J.R. Gupta conspired with Bharti Airtel,
Hutchison Max and Sterling Cellular (Vodafone India) and allegedly abused their
official positions as public servants.
These officials had allegedly taken a decision on 31
January 2002, to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz in violation of
the report of a technical committee.
It was further alleged that the accused persons showed
undue favor and caused undue cumulative advantage of
approximately Rs. 508.22 crore to beneficiary companies.
