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2G scandal: Friends as accused, kin as witnesses

NEW DELHI: If the accused are friends and acquaintances, then the witnesses are mostly wives, brothers and cousins. As the trial in the 2G scandal gathers pace, in the accused box are former telecom minister A Raja, his close friends, his former private secretary and others. Providing key factual backing to CBI's claims against them are wives, brothers and cousins of many of the accused.

"They will be in a catch-22 state," said former Delhi HC judge S N Dhingra about the complex position that many of the witnesses would find themselves in as the trial moves ahead. On one side would be their close relatives while on the other, would be the strong arm of the law.

"In case of Dayalu Ammal, if she does not support her statement that she was not involved in the company's affairs, then she becomes aware of all the transactions and the doubt comes on her. She can also be made an accused in such a scenario," Justice Dhingra said.

The list of witnesses is a landscape of familial complexity. The stepmother and a cousin of DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, nephew of Raja, two brothers of Cineyug director Karim Morani and a brother of Unitech's MD Sanjay Chandra — all these people have one thing in common. Besides being related to the four accused in the 2G scam, they have all been named as prosecution witnesses in the two chargesheets filed by the CBI.

A strange pattern has been seen in the two chargesheets where the agency has included the statements of the kin of several accused to back up their charges. The statements of these witnesses recorded under Section 161 CrPC have helped CBI to connect the loose ends of the case and have helped the agency to give a context to the voluminous documents recovered during the investigations.

In case of the 2G scam, he said, the relatives who are being made witnesses will find themselves in a tight spot with little chance of turning hostile.

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