2G: CBI court charges Essar, Loop promoters

New Delhi: Essar promoters Ravi and Anshuman Ruia, and Loop Telecom's Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan have been charged with conspiracy while Essar's Director for Strategy and Planning Vikash Saraf has been charged with cheating and conspiracy in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. The Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court also granted them bail on a surety bond of Rs 5 lakh each while charging them.

Advancing arguments on framing of charges, CBI counsel A K Singh said Loop Telecom played "hide and seek" with the Department of Telecom (DoT) and concealed information from it regarding their relationship with Essar Group.

Referring to the conduct of Loop Telecom, he said, "first the company had not filed the clause 8 (of the Unified Access Services Licences guidelines) certificate which was mandatory to be submitted at the time of filing of the application (for spectrum) and secondly, when it gave the certificate on the asking of DoT, it submitted the same with incomplete information."

The court also granted bail to Essar\'s Ravi and Anshuman Ruia, and Loop Telecom\'s Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan.

He said this shows that Loop Telecom was "concealing vital information about its relation with Essar group which is the subject matter of the case."

Besides the five people, the CBI has also named in its chargesheet, filed on December 12, three companies, Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Teleholdings Ltd as accused in the case. Essar already had 33 per cent stake in Hutchinson Essar.

The two companies have termed all allegations as false and said the CBI was acting on its own, adding that there was never any complaint from the Department of Telecom.

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