CBI drags fair name of prime minister's office into 2G scam

There is no stopping the CBI. It has dragged the prime minister's office into the second generation mobile telephony spectrum allocation scam supplementary charge sheet involving Kanimozhi.

The 48-page supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI on April 26 accusing her of involvement in the scam contains a paragraph which has the prime minister seething with anger and disbelief.

The CBI functions directly under the prime minister's and charge sheets in sensitive cases are vetted by top legal officers but the prime minister's office  perhaps did not do so in the instant case and hence this acute embarrassment. While the main focus of the charge sheet was that Kanimozhi connived with A Raja and took a Rs209-crore bribe in the name of Kalaingnar TV where she holds 20% stake and another 60% is in the name of Karunanidhi’s second wife Dayalu Amma, it also charged her of actively lobbying to get Raja reappointed as telecom minister in 2009 for such gains.

DNA has a copy of the 48-page charge sheet in which the CBI not only dragged the prime minister's office but indirectly leading TV and print journalists and also other intermediaries (?) who helped Raja get re-appointed as telecom minister.

The crucial paragraph at page number 22 of the charge sheet reads: “She also actively pursued with intermediaries and DMK Hqrs the matter regarding reappointment of accused A Raja (A-1) as minister of communications & information technology in 2009 which clearly establishes the strong association of accused Ms Kanimozhi (A-17) and accused A Raja (A-1) in the official/political matters”. 

What is surprising is that neither the names of the intermediaries have been mentioned in the charge sheet nor that of any others with whom Kanimozhi lobbied with to make Raja telecom minister second time.

Officials in the prime minister's office are wonder-struck as to why the lobbying part was incorporated in the supplementary charge sheet as it had to do with the bribery part and the lobbying part was not even relevant to the case.

When contacted, CBI director AP Singh brushed the question aside, saying nothing much should be read into this as it established the proximity between the two. When asked why the names of intermediaries and the lobbyists who helped Raja become a minister were not mentioned in the supplementary charge sheet, he said, “They should be there.” When told that the supplementary charge sheet list of witnesses contained no names, he said, “I will look into it.”

Singh has already ruffled many feathers by his straightforward and no-nonsense approach. However, he has caused jitters this time round as a number of top Congress functionaries may be dragged into the case.