2G scam: SC reserves order on bail pleas of 5 corporate honchos

The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its order on the bail plea of five corporate honchos who are in jail for over six months for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

A bench of Justices GS Singhvi and HL Dattu heard the arguments on the plea of corporate executives - Unitech Wireless' MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surrendra Pipara - who have approached the apex court for bail.

They have moved the apex court challenging Delhi High Court and trial court orders turning down their bail pleas.

CBI opposed their bail plea saying that they can approach the trial court for the relief.

The accused who have been charged under various offences under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act contended that they should be granted bail as the charges have already been framed and there is no chance of them tampering with the evidence.

The bench, while reserving order, expressed anguish over the media reports of the apex court proceedings in the case.

It said proceedings in the trial court would not get influenced by these reports.

The bench also took on record the stand taken by CBI in the trial court of not opposing the bail plea of DMK MP Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Asif Balwa, Rajiv Agarwal and Bollywood producer Karim Morani.

Other accused in the case include former Telecom Minister A Raja, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Raja's former private secretary RK Chandolia.

Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa and their colleague Rajeev Agarwal have also been booked in the case.

The accused included three telecom firms Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd.

All the accused have pleaded that they have not done anything wrong and refuted the charge of drawing illegal benefits in allocation of 2G spectrum.