Supreme Court rejects CBI probe against Sibal

In a major relief for union telecom minister Kapil Sibal, the Supreme Court today turned down an affidavit filed by senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, for a CBI probe into allegations that Sibal  granted favours to Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications.

The apex court observed that the allegations against Sibal could be probed by several bodies.

According to Bhushan, Sibal had malafide intention when he slashed Reliance Communication's penalty from Rs650 crore to Rs5 crore.

Sibal had defended his decision to minimise the hefty penalty that was imposed on Reliance Communications for switching off signals across 13 rural circles.

Under an agreement with Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) dated 16 May, 2007, the company had agreed on provision of rural mobile services in 13 circles through over 5,000 transceiver stations.

On 7 December, 2010, most of the stations providing rural mobile service were switched off by Reliance Commuications and its sister company Reliance Telecom.