The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail application of five corporate executives accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The five executives are Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Mr Gautam Doshi, Mr Hari Nair and Mr Surendra Pipara as well as Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Managing Director Mr Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom Director Mr Vinod Goenka.
They had moved the apex court challenging the orders of the Delhi High Court and the Special Court that had rejected their bail application. The CBI opposed their bail plea.
Meanwhile, the CBI informed before the apex court that it had not opposed in the Special Court the bail plea of DMK MP Ms Kanimozhi and four other accused.
The apex court had on Monday directed the CBI to file a reply regarding the stand it took before the Special Court on the bail plea of these five accused.
The agency informed the court on Tuesday that its stand (of not opposing the bail petition) was only for the bail plea of these five accused – Ms Kanimozhi, Mr Sharad Kumar (Director, Kalaignar TV), Mr Rajiv B Agarwal and Mr Asif Balwa (directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd) and Mr Karim Morani (Director, Cineyug Media and Entertainment) -- and not for the other accused in the case.
Ms Kanimozhi and the four others have been named accused only in the supplementary chargesheet, while the others are named accused in the main chargesheet.
The apex court observed that the agency was entitled to make appropriate statements in the trial court regarding the bail plea of the accused.
On October 24, the CBI had opposed before the Special Court the bail application of two other accused – Mr Shahid Balwa (promoter, Swan Telecom) and Mr R K Chandolia (personal secretary to the then Telecom Minister Mr Raja) -- saying if one takes into account only the specific charges framed against these two, it could lead to a maximum punishment of seven years, if found guilty. But the specific charges against the five accused, including Ms Kanimozhi, would lead to a maximum of only five years' imprisonment, the CBI had said.
Earlier, during the hearing on Tuesday, the apex court expressed anguish over certain misreporting of the court proceedings in the case