2G imbroglio: court summons CAG bosses

The special CBI court in New Delhi has summoned Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai as well as director of the CAG's office R P Singh to appear as witnesses in a case related to the alleged scam in the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008.

Acting on a complaint by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja, who is said to have sold spectrum on the cheap, Central Bureau of Investigation judge Pradip Chaddah on Friday evening sought presence of the top auditor Rai and Singh in the court on 5 February.

The order came on a private complaint by Swamy seeking registration of a criminal case against Mr. Raja for his alleged role in the scam, which, according to the CAG, caused a presumptive loss of 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

The court had on 7 January held as ''maintainable'' the private complaint filed by Swamy on 15 December last year. He had made a three-fold appeal which included that his complaint be taken cognizance of and Raja be summoned.

In his second 'prayer' Swamy wanted the court to appoint him ''as a deemed public prosecutor under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act'', and in the third, he sought the court's directions to agencies like the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to assist him in conducting prosecution and in the further investigation into the scam.

Quoting from the CAG report, Swamy had alleged that Raja committed fraud by adopting the first come, first served method to allocate spectrum to ineligible companies.