Day 2: A Raja turns up at CBI office with doctor

Former telecom minister A Raja was grilled for the second time in as many days for six hours over his role in the allocation of 2G spectrum at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters. Raja, who was grilled for nine hours on Friday, turned up the CBI headquarters with his doctor in tow on Saturday.  
Unlike Friday, when he confidently faced the media after his interrogation, Raja looked haggard on Saturday when he went in, and avoided the media, slipping out of a back gate, on his departure.

The CBI is believed to have quizzed Raja about his overseas investments and the money trail of some of the telecom companies that are alleged to have been favoured in receiving 2G spectrum allocation during his tenure as minister. Sources said letters rogatory (LR) will be sent to Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, seeking information about the financial trail in the 2G scam.

The Enforcement Directorate is now expected to join the CBI in questioning Raja about the suspected payments of bribes and money-laundering charges.

The CBI has said that members of Raja’s kin were involved in the scam, and that the money from the scam has been invested in a variety of companies, allegedly owned by Raja or by his family members.

The CBI is also hoping that key Raja aides - RK Chandolia and AK Srivastava, as well as hawala (illegal money transfer) dealer Daulat Jain - would turn approvers.

Raja was confronted with documents recovered by the agency during its raids on the Department of Telecom offices in October last year, after registering a case against unknown officers of the DoT and telecom companies. He was also questioned on the basis of documents seized by the CBI from his houses in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, and from his relatives and close aides.

The sources added that the CBI quizzed Raja on the taped conversations he had with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia about allegedly favouring certain telecom companies.

Raja was forced to resign on November 14 in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report, which held that the allocation of spectrum at undervalued prices, resulted in a notional loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.