CBI likely to file charge sheet in spectrum case in mid October

CBI is likely to file next month its charge sheet in connection with alleged irregularities in spectrum allocation during the tenure of NDA government involving three telecom companies along with officials of Telecom Department and the then Minister Pramod Mahajan.

CBI, which is giving final touches to its charge sheet, has received submissions from Bharti Airtel, one of the companies named in its FIR, which are being looked into, CBI sources said without elaborating.

They said the charge sheet would be finalised by mid- October by the agency.

CBI had registered a case against Shyamal Ghosh, the then Secretary in the Telecom Ministry headed by late Pramod Mahajan, J R Gupta, who was the Deputy Director General (Value Added Services) and two Telecom service providers Airtel and Vodafone for alleged irregularities in grant of additional spectrum.

CBI had alleged in its FIR that Department of Telecom had increased the base spectrum for telecom companies from 4.4 MhZ to 6.2 MhZ during Mahajan's tenure from 2001 to 2003 and also allocated extra spectrum on subscriber-based criteria.

The case against the then DoT official, Bharti Cellular (now known as Bharti Airtel), and Hutchinson Max and Sterling Cellular (now known as Vodafone Essar) was registered under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI alleged. Gupta retired as Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

"The then Minister for Telecom and Communication (Pramod Mahajan) has been excluded since he expired," the CBI had said in a statement but alleged that he was a part of criminal conspiracy to allocate the additional spectrum in a "hurried" manner.

BJP leader Mahajan was the Telecom Minister during 2001-03.

Both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone had, however, denied the allegation saying they had always maintained the highest standard of corporate governance and regulatory compliance.

Bharti Airtel had said they would be providing all details and correspondence to the authorities. Vodafone had said all their documents related to the spectrum allocation were in compliance with the governing laws and regulations and it was cooperating with the agency officials.