In a major relief to Home Minister P Chidambaram and the UPA Government, a Delhi court has dismissed a petition seeking to make him an accused in the 2G Spectrum case.
The petition was filed by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy. Rejecting the petition, the CBI Special Judge O P Saini said in New Delhi that Chidambaram did not indulge in any criminal conspiracy or derived any pecuniary advantage in the decisions taken with former Telecom Minister A Raja. In his 64-page judgement, the judge said Chidambaram was party to only two decisions – keeping spectrum prices at 2001 level and dilution of equity by two companies. The court said these are not per se criminal.
The Special Court said there is no evidence on record that Chidamabram was acting in pursuit of the criminal conspiracy. The judge said he did not find any sufficient ground for proceeding against Chidambaram. Dismissing Swamy's plea, the Judge said a bit of evidence here and there does not constitute prima facie evidence for showing existence of a criminal conspiracy. He said anybody associated with a decision in any degree cannot be roped in as an accused.
There is no material on record to show that Chidambaram was acting malafide in fixing the price of spectrum at the 2001 level or in permitting dilution of equity by the two companies. The judge said the plea of Subramanian Swamy is without any merit and therefore it was dismissed. Only a couple of days ago, the Supreme Court had refused to direct the CBI to investigate the alleged role of Chidambaram leaving it to the Special Court trying the 2G case.
Talking to media persons, Subramaniam Swamy later said he would appeal against the trial court decision.
The verdict was hailed by the Congress Party and Union ministers while BJP said one has to wait for higher court decision. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee welcomed the judgement saying it is a relief for government. Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that the Opposition should apologise for dragging Chidambaram's name in the 2G case.
Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Narayanasamy accused Subramanium Swamy of trying to tarnish the image of Chidambaram due to enimity and personal rivalry. He said the policy of of First come first served adopted by the previous NDA regime was followed in spectrum allocation.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the trial court's decision to dismiss the petition against Chidambaram has come as a relief for the government. He said, he is happy for the Home Minister as well as the justice delivery system. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika soni said the stand of the Government and the Congress party has been vindicated.
Congress Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said, now that both courts,the Supreme Court and the trial court have spoken the same issue substantively, the matter should be allowed to rest.
BJP leader Ravishanker prasad said it is the first decision of the court and should wait for the judgement of the higher court.
