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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | CBI grills Radia, ‘lobbyist didn’t reveal much’

CBI grills Radia, ‘lobbyist didn’t reveal much’

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published Published on Dec 21, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 21, 2010

Lobbyist Niira Radia , who’s in the eye of major storm over her taped telephonic conversations with a wide variety of people, including politicians, corporates and journalists, was on Tuesday grilled by the CBI over her alleged involvement in swinging commercial deals which smacked of a quid pro quo.

A three-member CBI team subjected Radia to an intense questioning at her Chhatarpur farmhouse in south Delhi this morning. The interrogation, which lasted some three-and-a-half hours, reportedly revolved mainly on those aspects of the tapes which involved a commercial angle, and which hinted at offer of kickbacks in return for favours.

The lobbyist, it is learnt, remained in the denial mode all through her interrogation, rejecting charges of any wrongdoing. The purpose of the interrogation, agency sources said, was to uncover traces of bribery and money trail. “To that extent, she did not reveal much,” CBI sources said.

In keeping with the directions contained in Section 165 of the CrPC, the CBI team decided to go to Radia’s farmhouse to grill her rather than directing her to present herself before the agency’s headquarters for the purpose. This was the standard practice employed by all investigative agencies when the person to be interrogated happened to be a woman.

Among the commercial transactions she was quizzed about were the Chennai land deal and the Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL)-Unitech loan, which was believed to have been utilised by the real estate firm to finance the 2G spectrum licence bagged by it in early 2008.

Radia, it is reliably learnt, denied any role in facilitating the execution of the two deals. Having interrogated Radia, the CBI is now waiting for former telecom minister A Raja to turn himself in for questioning on the 2G spectrum allocation scam . The DMK leader, while responding to the summons, has sought some extra time on “health” grounds. It is now expected that he would subject himself to interrogation at the hands of the investigative agency later this week. He has asked the CBI to assign him a new date.

While Raja’s residences in the Capital and in his hometown of Perambalur were raided by the CBI on December 5, Radia’s Chhatarpur farmhouse and two official premises were searched thoroughly 10 days later by the sleuths of the investigative agency as part of their efforts to uncover the money trail.

Laptops and hard-discs were recovered by the CBI teams during the raids, which are now in the process of being cracked open for vital clues on a probable quid pro quo.

Vaishnavi Communication, the PR firm owned by Radia, issued a statement later in the day assuring “full cooperation” to the authorities in the ongoing investigation.

The CBI, in the meanwhile, continued with its grilling of former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.


The Economic Times, 22 December, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/cbi-grills-radia-lobbyist-didnt-reveal-much/articleshow/7142019.cms


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