2G scam: 5 accused get bail

The Supreme Court today granted bail to five corporate executives who were arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum case.

The accused who got bail includes Unitech Wireless' MD Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surrendra Pipara. They had been in jail for more than six months.

On November 1, the Supreme Court had reserved its order on the bail plea of the executives. The accused had moved the apex court challenging Delhi High Court and trial court orders turning down their bail.CBI had opposed their bail plea saying they can approach the trial court for relief.

This is the first set of bail granted in the mutli-crore telecom spectrum scam, which according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer.

The accused who have been charged under various offences under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act contended they should be granted bail as charges have already been framed and there was no chance of them tampering with evidence.

Other accused in the case include DMK MP Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Asif Balwa, Rajiv Agarwal, Bollywood producer Karim Morani, former Telecom Minister A Raja, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura and Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia.

Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa and their colleague Rajeev Agarwal have also been booked in the case.

The accused also include three telecom firms Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd.

All accused have refuted the charge of drawing illegal benefits from the allocation of 2G spectrum.