Captain of 2G ship completes 1 year in Tihar; no hope of early release

A day after the Supreme Court set a precedent that sanction against a public official found to be corrupt should be given in four months time, former Telecom minister A Raja completes one year in Asia’s biggest Tihar jail, with no hope of getting out soon.

Raja, who CBI alleged was the mastermind behind the century’s biggest scam that caused a loss of over Rs1.76 lakh crores to the national exchequer, was arrested on February 2 along with his two close associates, amongst them Former Telecom secretary Siddharth Behura has also been in jail for a year.

The apex court had recommended the Parliament to amend the current law to ensure that sanction to prosecute a public servant is given within a period of four months or it will be deemed to have been given.

Talking to DNA, a close aide of Raja said, “He is still watching the case minutely and filing of bail is not on his mind for the time being. He is consulting his lawyer keenly to be out of jail with a strategy.”

When the DMK chief’s daughter Kanimozhi got bail after spending six months in jail, Raja had told DNA, “I amthe captain of the (2G) ship and will wait for everyone else to come out before he makes a similar attempt.”
It is not clear which analogy Raja was referring to. Was he referring to the “sinking ship” analogy where the captain is the last one to bail out? Or was he acknowledging the fact that all this happened under his watch and therefore he would be the last one to seek bail.

Raja is often visited by his wife, daughter and close DMK member including former Union ministers TR Baalu in court and in jail.

Explaining his daily routine in Tihar jail, Raja had said, “I am reading all kinds of books to make use of my time. Rest of the time I am scrutinizing all the charges pressed against me by the CBI and going through these voluminous documents to prepare my defence.”

Raja is a law graduate and had argued before the court on various occasions. “I am confident that I will come out clean and then tell all those who nailed me,” Raja said while expressing his happiness over granting of bail to Kanimozhi.