Physical agility determined seniority in 2G allocation: CBI

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The CBI today opposed the bail plea of Swan telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa saying the first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy was manipulated by former Telecom Minister A. Raja and others to such an extent that physically fit persons got away with the 2G licenses.

"Physical fitness of the applicants became the deciding factor in the grant of licenses," Senior advocate and CBI prosecutor U.U. Lalit told Special Judge O.P. Saini.

Balwa, who is in jail since his arrest in Mumbai on February 8, has moved the bail application saying he has been 'unfairly' targeted by CBI and committed no offence.

The idea behind setting up four counters at 'Sanchar Bhawan' on January 10, 2008 for grant of letter of intents (LoIs) to firms including Swan Telcom negated the FCFS policy adopted for the grant of UAS licenses, Lalit said.

"What is it that determined seniority was not the date of application but your agility. It was about how agile, energetic and fit enough you are to reach the counters (set in Sanchar Bhawan) first," he said.

"This particular device was adopted to favour Swan and Unitech. If they were to go by seniority, Delhi circle would have gone to anybody. People were clamouring for lucrative regions. Nobody was interested in regions like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. If I want the best of the lot, the cherry, I need to go to the counter first," he said.

"To sum up, so far as Shahid Balwa is concerned, he and Vinod Goenka were in charge and responsible for the affairs of Swan Telecom, which received favours due to all these gimmicks. Advantage of Rs 3,600 crore is enormous.

"Propensity of this person (Shahid Balwa) and reverse money trail itself is indicative that he is not entitled to benefit of his release on bail," he said.

The prosecutor also referred to the chargesheet to support his allegations that Swan telecom, promoted by Balwa, was nothing but a front company of Reliance ADAG to circumvent the then telecom policy which debarred the usage of dual technology by existing players.

Balwa and Vinod Goenka came on the board of STPL, promoted by Reliance ADAG after Reliance got back its money put in as subscription to preference shares in STPL.

"The sum and substance is that a company which, to start with, was not eligible to make an application for spectrum license was thus transfered to Balwa and Goenka," he said.

Raja entered into a conspiracy with others to favour various firms including Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Private Ltd.

The court has now posted the matter for hearing on May 18 when counsel for Balwa would advance arguments on the bail plea.

Raja's birthday in jail

Spectrum Raja, meanwhile, spent his 48th birthday in a 12x15 feet Tihar jail cell - far removed from the day-long celebrations that marks such occasions in the past.

In prison for 83 days, began the day with some breathing exercises at 5 AM in his Jail No.1. After the usual head count, he went in for an hour of 'pranayam' conducted for all inmates inside the jail.

This was followed by a breakfast which included two pieces of bread with a cup of tea and a plate of curry, jail officials said.

At around 8.30 AM, dressed in a white shirt and a deep blue trouser, Raja boarded the jail van that was waiting to take inmates to the Patiala court.

On reaching the court where he stayed for over six hours, eyewitness said that Raja conversed with DMK MP Kanimozhi and other accused in the the 2 G spectrum case.

Raja, who smiled on occasions, appeared calm and composed throughout the day's court proceedings that continued till 4.30 PM. He was back in the jail premises at around 5.30 PM.

Hardly any of his fellow inmates or jail officials came to know that it was the birthday of the once powerful and well-connected DMK leader.

"It is news to me that today is the birthday of Mr Raja. It was a normal day today," an official who did not wish to be named said. Raja was brought to Tihar jail on February 17.