Explained: CBI Special Judge O.P.Saini’s Judgment in 2G Spectrum Cases [Part -I]

The December 21 judgment of CBI Special Judge, O.P.Saini, has been a pleasant surprise to the accused. A: In Paragraph 1817, the Judge says as follows: “There is no evidence on the record produced before the Court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons relating to fixation of cut-off date, manipulation of first-come first-served policy, allocation of spectrum to dual technology applicants, ignoring ineligibility of STPL and Unitech group companies, non-revision of entry fee and transfer of Rs.200 crore to Kalaignar TV Limited as illegal gratification.” There are six major issues dealt with in the judgment, as indicated above, under separate heads. The end result is that, the Judge has absolutely no hesitation in holding that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any of the accused, made in its “well choreographed charge sheet”. In order o meet this unique situation, the defence had to be given extra two days for further rebutting the arguments of the prosecution introduced through written arguments.” The Judge was also critical of the SPP for his reluctance to sign the written submissions filed by him. The judge found no merit in the submission of the prosecution that the criteria was changed surreptitiously and unilaterally by Raja to benefit the accused companies.