2G scam: Behura denies onus; blames politicos

Siddhartha Behura, the former telecommunications secretary, continued to fling mud at his political masters during his appearance today before the special court looking into the 2G spectrum scam.

He accused the Central Bureau of Investigation of raising an unnecessary "hue and cry" over the Tata Group being refused a 2G licence initially. The CBI, the chief of the multiple agencies probing the alleged scam, alleges that the Tata Group had been eliminated from the race for spectrum in an unfair manner.

Behura's counsel Aman Lekhi said the Tatas had already admitted that they were late in filing the application (which the group put in on 4 March 2008). "Then why is the CBI accusing Behura?" Lekhi asked in the court.

"I don't understand why there is a hue and cry about Tata. Are they above the law and different from other bidders? Does it not amount to corruption?" Behura's lawyer added.

Behura has been claiming almost from the start of the investigations that as a civil servant, he was merely following orders, and had no role in deciding policy on spectrum allocation.

He said it was deputy director-general of telecommunications A K Srivastava (his predecessor as telecom secretary) who had supervised all operations undertaken in issuing the licenses.