The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to chargesheet telecom operators Bharti Airtel (earlier known as Bharti Cellular) and Vodafone India (earlier known as Hutchison Max & Sterling Cellular) in the first week of October in a case related to additional spectrum allocation in January 2002, according to senior officials of the investigative agency.
This would be the first time in the 2G spectrum allocation case that the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will come under scrutiny. The telecom minister in 2002 was Pramod Mahajan, who was killed in 2006.
In the course of the investigations, CBI has found irregular allocation of additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz to 10 MHz to GSM operators, including Bharti and Vodafone during Mahajan's rule. The agency has alleged favouritism and arbitrariness by some officers in the DoT (department of telecom), bypassing the opinions of the member (finance), the wireless adviser and even the highest decision-making body in the DoT, the Telecom Commission.
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This would be the first time in the 2G spectrum allocation case that the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will come under scrutiny. The telecom minister in 2002 was Pramod Mahajan, who was killed in 2006.
In the course of the investigations, CBI has found irregular allocation of additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz to 10 MHz to GSM operators, including Bharti and Vodafone during Mahajan's rule. The agency has alleged favouritism and arbitrariness by some officers in the DoT (department of telecom), bypassing the opinions of the member (finance), the wireless adviser and even the highest decision-making body in the DoT, the Telecom Commission.
Read More . . . .