A special CBI court presided over by judge O.P. Saini has extended former Minister of Telecommunications and IT A. Raja?s custody period by another four days, according to news reports. Raja is being held in custody along with Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom and managing director of the DB group for questioning with regard to their role in the 2G spectrum allocation issue.
Saini said that keeping in mind the serious nature and facts of the case, further recovery of the documents and the need for further confrontation of the accused with each other and documents as well as their consequent interrogation, he found merit in the submission of the investigating agency seeking grant of four days police custody remand of both the accused, while remanding the duo to be in CBI custody until February 14, 2011.
Raja was arrested on February 2, 2011 and remanded to CBI custody initially for five days. On February 8, 2011, he was again remanded to CBI’s custody for two more days after the CBI told the court that he was not cooperating during questioning and was being evasive.
The CBI has sought four days of custodial interrogation of Raja and Balwa, saying it was necessary for further investigating the issue. Balwa’s arrest was necessary as he had been evading the agency, it said. It added that Balwa was not providing adequate responses to questions concerning share holding in Swan telecom and he has been hiding facts from the agency.
The counsel for both Raja and Balwa opposed the CBI plea with latter’s counsel contending that his client has appeared at the CBI office on 27 occasions for interrogation. He added if the accused was cooperating in the probe, there was no need for his arrest and custodial interrogation.
Balwa’s counsel also argued that a person cannot be arrested unless the offence is of grievous nature and unless it is necessary to recover some incriminating material necessary for investigation. He added that the investigating agency has obtained a non-bailable warrant against Balwa.
