A day after a key prosecution witness in the 2G scam case, Aseervatham Achary, had claimed inside the courtroom that there was a threat to his life, Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini on Friday said that had the fear been expressed earlier, many of the accused would not have been granted bail. Former telecom minister A. Raja, through his counsel, however contended in court that Mr Achary was a “false witness” and said that it was a “conspiracy” between the CBI and the witness. Mr Achary denied the allegations against him.
Mr Raja’s ex-aide Mr Achary had on Thursday created a flutter by claiming that a man present in the court room had threatened to kill him. The Judge observed, “He (Achary) did not say anything earlier, and had he said it then it would have been on record, and many of them (accused) would not have got bail.”
After the electronic media reported Judge Saini’s remark, he later clarified that it was made “off the record”. The remark agitated the defence counsels representing all the accused in the 2G case who claimed that this amounted to “misreporting facts”.
On intermittent requests by the defence lawyers, the judge in the order said, “At this stage, R.N. Mittal, learned senior advocate submits that the press has reported an observation by the court, which is not a part of the record.”
Mr Raja, represented by advocate Sushil Kumar, contended, “He (Achary) is a created false witness and this is my ultimate case. This whole drama (a reference to Mr Achary’s claim of being threatened) was meant for January 2 when Chandolia’s bail is coming in the Supreme Court as he (Mr Achary) told the court that the person threatening him was sitting with Chandolia.”
Mr Achary, however, denied the allegations vehemently and said, “I am not aware if bail application of some of the accused is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on January 2, 2012.”