Hearing in 2G case deferred to March 4

Hearing on the framing of charges against the accused and a bail application of former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh in one of the 2G spectrum allocation cases has yet again been deferred by a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as both the prosecution and defence pleaded for it.

CBI chargesheet

The case, in which CBI has chargesheeted Ghosh and three firms for causing an estimated loss of Rs 846 crore to public exchequer due to allocation of additional spectrum during erstwhile National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime in 2002, was fixed for hearing on Thursday.

However, the court deferred it and fixed March 4 to hear arguments on framing of charges against the accused and bail application of Ghosh after the defence sought short adjournment for perusal of case records saying it was quite voluminous. The CBI too did not oppose the defence counsel’s plea.

“Allowed, more so, when evidence is being recorded in PMLA case (money laundering case), tiltled Enforcement Directorate Vs A Raja and others, morning to evening. Accordingly, put up the matter for arguments on charge/disposal of bail application of accused Shyamal Ghosh on March 4, 2015, as prayed by both,”  Special CBI Judge O P Saini held.

The court, however, made it clear to both the defence and the prosecution that it would not grant any adjournment once the charges were framed against the accused, holding that it wanted to take up the case for hearing on a day to day basis.

The Special CBI Judge also directed Ghosh to appear in person on March 4 when the case is taken up for hearing.

This is second time when the court has deferred the hearing of the case.
On February 6, the court deferred the hearing after the defence pleaded for it, submitting that they needed some documents from CBI which were filed along with the charge sheet.

One of the defence lawyers then wanted the court to give time till first week of March to enable them examine the documents of the case properly and prepare the arguments but the Special CBI Judge rejected the plea and fixed February 19 for hearing, holding that such a long duration could not be given.