JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that it may refer to special public prosecutor to decide whether Sunil Bharti Mittal of Telecom major Airtel should be chargesheeted for his alleged role in the 2G case.
A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan said that they would hear the matter after it was pointed out that there was difference of opinions among the CBI top brass on the issue.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), submitted that CBI’s investigating officer, superintendent of police and others had recommended for chargesheeting Mittal.
But the Director of Prosecution (DoP) and his junior Special PP have opposed it. CBI Director has not taken any position on the issue and instead sought legal opinion using the excuse of “difference of opinion”, he said.
Senior advocate K K Venugopal, however, submitted that the CBI director has also agreed with the view of going ahead to charge sheet Mittal but the issue has been referred to Attorney General for his opinion.
At this stage, it was pointed out the senior advocate U U Lalit has already been appointed as special public prosecutor in the matter and it should be referred to him to decide. The court, however, said that it would hear the matter on November 19.
According to a written note submitted by Bhushan, the CBI investigating spectrum scam in the period 2001 to 2007, allegedly found Rs 508.22 crore loss to the government with “active role played by Mittal in connivance with the then Telecom Minister late Pramod Mahajan and Shyamal Ghosh, Secretary Telecom (Retired).”
The CBI had already filed an FIR a year ago on November 17, 2011 against Ghosh, J R Gupta, senior official, telecom department, Bharti Cellular Ltd Delhi, Vodafone Essar Ltd, Mumbai,Vodafone Essar Mobile, Delhi, and some unknown officials.