The Special Court hearing the 2G Spectrum case on Friday turned down the bail plea of the former Telecom Secretary, Siddhartha Behura. His counsel submitted that Mr.Behura had no role in deciding the modified first-come first-served policy, cut off dates and dual technology terms and also claimed that Mr.Behura had joined the Telecom services on January 1st, 2008, after the decisions were taken.

But the Special Judge O.P Saini in his order stated that “it is not necessary in law that the person should be a part of the conspiracy from the beginning to the end”.

Mr.Behura’s  counsel pleaded before the court that “ this was not a show trial and the accused must be made to understand the nature of the case and the character of evidence on the basis of which he is facing the trial”.

In response the judge put forward the relevant statement of witnesses namely Attorney-General G.E.Vahanwati , the CBI’s main witness and former DoT  Deputy Director-General (Access services), A.K.Srivastava and Joint Wireless Advisor Ramjeet Singh Khushwaha. And in response to the contention of the defence counsel that the case was not a serious economic offence as it was punishable only with a maximum punishment of 7 years, Mr. Saini said “corruption against the public servants is on the rise and the same has become a major problem of the economy. It affects the economy of the country and considering the enormity of the corruption, the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act are viewed seriously”.

Report by Alka