Now that CBI has done a volte face in Maran‘s case in regard to forcing Aircel to be sold and indicated that he might be charged with the frivolous charge that he sat on the files far too long, which can be dismissed ( as indicated by my earlier blog), the decks are cleared for Kanimozhi‘s release by ED contemplating to levy a fine of 1.5 crores fine for Balwa’s transaction of 200 crores with Kalaignar TV.
CBI is likely to quote ED and declare that there is not much of an evidence to charge Kanimozhi and she is likely to be discharged by 30th September.
The whole scenario unfolded with CBI taking a U turn on Maran and Kalaignar TV with Kanimozhi letting people know that she is not averse to disclose all the details including the top brass of Congress, you know who.
The Congress is to have buckled , let it be known that it can not be done before 15 September and the DMK has shifted its extravaganza ‘Mupperum Vizha’ to 30 September , instead of 15 September in anticipation of Kanimozhis release.
Add to this the argument the ‘loss to the Exchequer’ is arbitrary, not Real and is varied from different Estimates by Raja in the Supreme Court.
Pressure seems to be working.!
Breaking down the total additional revenue loss of Rs.30,984.55 crores among various new applicants which received licenses licenses and the Dual Technology users, the Tata, whose telecom company received 3 CDMA licenses and 19 GSM licenses, and caused a ‘loss’ of Rs.4,930 crores, has neither been chargesheeted nor arrested. Datacom and Loop also received 21 GSM licenses each and individually deprived the exchequer by more than Rs.4,000 crores – almost the same additional revenue deprived by Unitech Wireless. And yet, there is no chargesheet against them. Similarly, Reliance (14 GSM licenses), Shyam (21 CDMA licenses and 1 GSM license) and Idea (9 GSM licenses) deprived the exchequer by additional revenue to the tune of Rs.3,380 crores, Rs.2,650 crores and Rs.1,815 crores and none of these companies have been booked by the CBI. Same is the case of other companies like S-Tel (6 GSM licenses), Spice (4 GSM licenses), Allianz (2 GSM licenses) and HFCL (1 GSM license). Similarly, during 2003-2007, 51 licenses were issued by the DOT but no status report is being given by the investigation agencies to the Supreme Court. Many old operators are hoarding spectrum beyond their contractual entitlement, as highlighted by the CAG in its report and caused loss to the exchequer, but investigation is not making much progress against those companies.
Therefore, the impression is hard to avoid that the government and its agencies have not been impartial in their approach to the various telecom players allegedly involved in the 2-G spectrum allocation ‘scam’. What could possibly explain this partisan treatment on the part of the government agencies even by the logic of their own estimates of the ‘Loss to the Exchequer’? The only plausible explanation is that in their desperate attempt to give a clean chit to the government and its functionaries, the investigating agencies are looking to find easy scapegoats.
To begin with there were multiple figures in circulation with regard to the 2-G spectrum ‘scam’. That in itself damages the credibility of the whole investigation. On top of that, the government and its agencies seem to have blatantly flouted all norms of justice in targeting only two out of the nearly dozen telecom players which, according to its own faulty, misguided and motivated estimates, have benefited from the spectrum allocation. If the ‘loss to the exchequer’ has been caused by so many companies, is there any justification in law or ethics to zero in on two of them and seek to hold them responsible?
Of course, the matter is sub-judice now, and the courts will decide the cases strictly in the light of evidence. And yet, such a shoddy, selective, and unjust sequence of events should never have been allowed to set in motion, for it reflects badly not only upon the government of the day but also upon India as a modern nation with professedly mature and impartial institutions.
Ramanisblog 
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