BackSC seeks status report on investigation in Aircel-Maxis case
Supreme Court asks the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit a status report on probe in Aircel-Maxis case by 23 January
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit a status report on investigation relating to the Aircel-Maxis case by 23 January.
The court was responding to a plea by ED officer Rajeshwar Singh, who alleged that he had been receiving anonymous complaints regarding his work relating to the Aircel-Maxis scam.
Special public prosecutor Anand Grover submitted that there had been two instances where the accused were discharged—Marans in Aircel-Maxis deal case and former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh in the additional spectrum allocation case—in addition to the acquittal of A. Raja and others in 2G spectrum allocation case last month.
He added that the only pending probe in the 2G related cases was against Karti Chidambaram for his role in the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) granting clearance to media house INX Media for receiving overseas funds, using the agency of his father, P. Chidambaram who was the finance minister at that time.
On 21 December, a special CBI court acquitted all accused in the 2G case citing lack of evidence. These included former telecom minister Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) parliamentarian Kanimozhi and 15 others who were tried as accused for charges varying from cheating, abusing public office to criminal conspiracy.
Grover also urged the apex court to instruct the CBI to file an appeal against the acquittal order, to which the investigative agency said it was in the process of seeking the opinion of the law ministry. CBI was given 60 days from the acquittal order to file an appeal.
The case will be heard next on 23 January.
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