CBI chases 2G players again

On the trail of key players in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 34 offices and residences in New Delhi and Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

This is the second such raid by the agency in just over a week.

The premises of those searched include corporate lobbyist Nira Radia, former chairman of the telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) Pradip Baijal, siblings of former telecom minister A Raja and an NGO linked to Kanimozhi, member of Parliament and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Searches were still on and several incriminating documents have been recovered, said Vineeta Thakur, spokesperson for the CBI. The agency roped in the enforcement directorate (ED) for the raids, she added.

“Those raided were also questioned by the agency’s personnel,” Thakur said. Radia’s office — Vaishnavi Corporate Communications at Barakhmaba Road — and her farmhouse in South Delhi were among the first of the premises searched, said sources.
Baijal, who retired in 2006 after serving as Trai chairman for nearly three years, is currently working with Radia’s firm Noesis Consultants.

He is accused of recommending various policies to the government which benefited some telecom firms. Sources said CBI has opened Baijal’s bank lockers to get some important documents.

The searches are aimed at finding out probable links between hawala operators and A Raja. The alleged hawala dealers — brothers Mahesh Jain and Alok Jain alias Bobby — were questioned during the raids, CBI sources disclosed.
   
“Some documents seized from Raja’s house during the raid last week mentioned his hawala transactions. The raids on the Jain brothers’ residences and offices in Delhi were based on that information,” a CBI source said. ED officials searched premises of the Jain brothers to get leads into allegations of money laundering.

Among the targets of Wednesday’s raids in Tamil Nadu were Raja’s auditors and Kamaraj, a journalist known to be close to the DMK. Kamaraj is believed to be a director in a company owned by Raja’s family.

The agency also searched the premises of an NGO linked to Kanimozhi, besides the premises of the auditor of Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi and siblings of Raja at Chennai and elsewhere. Tamil Maiyam, founded by Christian priest Jegath Gasper Raj, in which Kanimozhi is a director, was also raided.