New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Tuesday accused his erstwhile Telecom Secretary DS Mathur in a Delhi court of deposing "falsely" against him under the fear of prosecution by the CBI in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
DMK MP Raja, who is the prime accused in the case, alleged Mathur agreed to become a prosecution witness as he feared arrest in the case.
The former bureaucrat, however, denied Raja's contentions saying, "When my statement was recorded by investigating officer (IO), I was not aware that some DoT officials had already been arrested.
"It is wrong to suggest that I agreed to become a witness for the prosecution as I feared that if I did not do so, I may also be prosecuted," he told Special CBI Judge OP Saini during his cross examination by Raja's counsel Sushil Kumar.
Mathur said he is not aware if the CBI is also probing into grant of licences when he was the telecom secretary.
"I am not aware if the CBI is investigating the licences issued during my tenure when Dayanidhi Maran was the Minister of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It is wrong to suggest that I have given a false statement under oath due to pressure of this investigation," he said.
He denied the suggestions that he was representing the interest of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) during the consideration of applications for grant of Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) and raised objections only regarding the licences to the new applicants.
"I raised the issue of availability of spectrum for the new applicants only as the number of applications was very large. It is wrong to suggest that I have been throughout representing the interest of COAI and its members.... It is wrong to suggest that I have deposed falsely against accused A Raja," he said.
During the cross examination, Raja's counsel asked Mathur about Justice Shivraj Patil Committee, which was constituted to probe into the alleged deficiencies in formulation and implementation of the DoT's internal procedures for issuance f the 2G licences and allocation of spectrum.
Sushil Kumar asked Mathur if he was aware of Justice Patil's Committee report, allegedly indicting him for several lapses committed during his tenure as the telecom secretary.
This question, however, was disallowed by the judge who said "this issue has no bearing even remotely on the present trial".
Mathur, whose recording of the statement would continue on Wednesday, said as per an October 24, 2007 note, he had recorded that applications seeking GSM technology approval apart from CDMA technology, which the operators were already availing, be processed along with the applications for the new UASL.
Raja's counsel asked Mathur whether senior DoT official AK Srivastava was insisting that the applications of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) for dual technology be processed earlier despite the October 24, 2007 note.
"That is correct. Again said, I had recorded the note on October 24, 2007 regarding processing of the dual technology applications and grant of GSM spectrum and I had put up the file to the then minister and my proposal was not considered and it was said that decision will be taken on this after the opinion of Law Ministry is received," he said.
He said as per a November 12, 2007 note of AK Srivastava, the letter of intents (LoIs) were to be issued simultaneously to the "prima facie eligible applicants who had submitted their applications till September 25, 2007, as per the discussion with myself and the then minister".
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