Court to decide on Balwa’s bail today

Special CBI Judge O P Saini, deferring his decision on the bail petition of DB Realty director Shahid Usman Balwa and bureaucrat R K Chandolia yesterday, who were arrested for their alleged role in the 2G scam, posted the matter for today.

Balwa's counsel yesterday sought bail claiming his client was being unfairly targetted as there were nine companies that were awarded Unified Access Licences, but only Balwa was arrested. CBI countered that all companies were under investigation and as and when needed, arrests would be made.

The agency said Balwa had been manipulative and if released on bail again manipulate and hamper the investigation.

Meanwhile, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) widening the investigation scope in the 2G spectrum scam, Arun Shourie, who held the telecom portfolio during NDA's regime appeared before the CBI on today in connection with the agency's probe into possible criminal aspects in the telecom policy since 2001. (See: CBI grills Arun Shourie over 2G allocations)

The Apex court had last year asked the CBI to include in the ambit of the investigation the grant of licences by both the NDA and UPA regimes between 2001-2007. Shourie would explain his role in awarding licences to operators on the first come-first-serve basis and other crucial telecom policy decisions of the NDA regime.

Shourie, a senior BJP leader, had been approached by the CBI, early this month, and asked to appear before it in connection with the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) registered by the agency, in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court.