On Friday, the Delhi High Court took up the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), contesting the acquittal of A Raja, former telecom minister and current Lok Sabha MP, along with several others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma delivered the decision on the leave to appeal submitted by the CBI. The ruling was reserved on March 14.

“Leave to appeal granted,” the court said while pronouncing the verdict.

“This court after going through the material on record, the impugned judgment and the submissions made at bar by both the sides is of the opinion that a prima facie has been made out which requires deeper examination of the entire evidence,” the court added.

A copy of the judgment is awaited.

The inaugural hearing of the case occurred before the High Court on March 21, 2018. Since then, a cumulative total of 125 hearings have transpired before different judges. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) argued that the trial court's acquittal of all the accused was marred by evident illegalities. Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain, serving as the Senior Special Public Prosecutor, represented the CBI in this matter.

On December 21, 2017, a special court in the area acquitted A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and several others of various charges stemming from the alleged Rs. 1.76 lakh crores 2G scam case.

In addition to Raja and Kanimozhi, the court also cleared former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Limited MD Sanjay Chandra, and three key executives from the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG): Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara, and Hari Nair.

Additional individuals and entities acquitted in the case included Swan Telecom Private Limited, Unitech Wireless Limited, Reliance Telecom Limited, film producer Karim Morani, and Sharad Kumar. Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, and Rajiv Agarwal were also among those acquitted in the case.

In addition to Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court also acquitted Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv Aggarwal, Karim Morani, P. Amirtham, M.K. Dayalu Ammal, and Sharad Kumar in the money laundering case.

In March 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated legal action by appealing to the Delhi High Court against the acquittal order. Subsequently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also filed a petition challenging the same acquittal. According to the CBI's chargesheet filed in 2011, it was alleged that A. Raja conspired with his former private secretary R.K. Chandolia to manipulate the cut-off date for considering applications, extending it to September 25, 2007, with the intention of illegally favoring Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Shahid Balwa, and Vinod Goenka in the allotment of 2G spectrum.

The chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also implicated nine companies as accused entities. These included Kalaignar TV, STPL, Kusegaon Realty Ltd, Cineyug Media & Entertainment Ltd, Dynamix Realty, Eversmile Construction Company Ltd, Conwood Construction & Developers Ltd, DB Realty Ltd, and Mystical Construction Ltd.

Case Title: CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION v. A RAJA & ORS