Chennai: The Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI ) will investigate the alleged 2G spectrum scam that has put Union Telecom Minister A Raja in the controversial
spotlight. "CBI has registered a case and we are undertaking investigations.
We will not share anything till we complete our investigations," said Ashwini
Kumar, CBI Director. Meanwhile, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK),
the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu, staged a protest rally and demanded the
resignation of Raja over his role in the allocation of 2G spectrum licenses. "Because
of the 2-G spectrum scandal the country has suffered a revenue loss to the tune
of Rs one lakh crores. And the involved telecom minister Mr. Raja should be immediately
dismissed, a case should be booked against him under the Prevention of Corruption
Act and he should be arrested," said AIADMK leader V Mythereyan. "And to find
out the root cause of this mega scam, a joint parliamentary committee probe should
be ordered," he added. Raja had said in October last year that he would not step
down from his position in the wake of charges that his spectrum allocation policies
have caused a revenue loss of 60,000 crore rupees. "I will not step down. Ours
is a government that has followed all rules to the latter and spirit by following
the recommendations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)," he said.
Raja also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) Government was involved in the "biggest ever scam", as it distributed
free spectrum to operators depriving the exchequer of over 1,60,000 rupees crore
revenue. Raja added that the NDA government not only distributed free spectrum,
but also violated all norms by giving the frequency far in excess of 4.4 MHz to
many leading operators.
