A prosecution witness in 2G spectrum case was on Thursday accused by CBI in a Delhi court of resiling from his statement to save the three Reliance ADA Group officials who are facing trial in the case.
Nilesh Doshi, a chartered accountant, was accused by CBI of making a "false statement" as a witness in the court to save the company's top executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair who have been chargesheeted for criminal conspiracy and other penal offences in the 2G scam.
"You (witness) are working with the Reliance ADA Group and you know Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair (Reliance ADA group officials) well and so you are making a false statement in the court to save them," CBI prosecutor AK Singh said before Special CBI judge OP Saini.
When CBI was stating that Doshi was retracting from his earlier statement, the judge asked him whether he was under any pressure or threat.
Doshi said he was not under "any pressure or coercion" and making his statement "voluntarily" and on his own "free will", which was taken on record by the court.
"The witness apparently appears to be making his statement freely and without any pressure or coercion," the court noted.
The chartered accountant, however, rejected the prosecutor's contention saying "it is wrong to suggest that I have resiled from my statement for saving Surendra Pipara, Gautam Doshi and Hari Nair from legal punishment, they being my colleagues."
During the recording of statement, the CBI prosecutor was allowed by the court to cross examine Doshi after the witness said that he would not be in a position to identify the signatures of Gautam Doshi, Pipara and Nair.
