2G case trial begins today

Special Judge O P Saini fixed November 11 as the date for recording evidence, which marked the beginning of trial.

The CBI has already got summons issued to Reliance top executives - group president A N Sethuraman and Assistant Vice-President Anand Subramaniam - besides Chief Regulatory Officer of M/s Etisalat D B Telecom, Vinod Kumar Buddhiraja, to depose as witnesses.

It submitted to the court a list of 28 persons who could be summoned as witnesses to record their statements, on October 22, the day the special judge had framed the charges against 17 accused in the case.

All 17, including Reliance Telecom, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom, were charged wi­th offences ranging from cheating to forgery and criminal breach of trust, which may entail life imprisonment if convicted.

In its order, the court had detailed the role played by different accused persons as alleged by the CBI in its chargesheet.

The hopes of Kanimozhi, DMK-run Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and five others, who expected their release on bail with the framing of ch­a­rges, was dashed with the special court refusing to grant them relief.

Besides Raja, Kanimozhi and three telecom firms, those who will be tried are Reliance executives - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair - and Swan Telecom’s Shahid Usman Balwa, Unitech Ltd's MD Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and filmmaker Karim Morani.

Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s former Private Secretary R K Chandolia, directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal are also on trial for their alleged role.