TIA Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Several incriminating documents have been recovered during the raids conducted at 34 places in Delhi and Chennai by the CBI in connection with the on-going investigations into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G Spectrum.
Briefing media person here, the spokesperson of the CBI Vineeta Thakur said that searches were conducted at the residences and offices of the former Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Pradip Baijal and three premises related to corporate lobbyist Neera Radia in Noida, Chhatarpur and Barakhamba as well as premises of several companies and their Directors. Premises of Mahesh Jain a Hawala operator were raided for alleged linkages with the case.
The spokesperson said that Enforcement Directorate has been asked to coordinate specially to look into the money laundering angle to the probe. She said that Wednesday’s raids were a follow up of the searches conducted on the 8th of this month. Ms Thakur said that the searches which began early this morning are still continuing.
Earlier report Amid the raging controversy over the 2 G scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) on Wednesday raided and carried out searches at the residences an doffices of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and former Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Pradip Baijal, in New Delhi and Chennai. CBI also raided premises of Mahesh Jain a private person.
CBI sources here said that the relevant documents are being sealed. Reports from Chennai also suggest that at least three places in the including the residence of a senior journalist were also raided by the agency.
Radia’s office — Vaishnavi Corporate Communications in Central Delhi — and her farm house in South Delhi were among the first of the premises to be searched by the CBI in the morning., CBI sources also said that some persons who had been closely associated with the handling of accounts and funds of former Telecom Minister A Raja were also been searched.
Radia, Baijal and alleged hawala dealers – brothers Mahesh Jain and Alok Jain alias Bobby – were questioned during the raids, the sources said.
The raids come a week after the searches in the residences of Raja in Delhi and in his native place Perambalur and a number of others.
Early this week the CBI had carried out searches at the residences of former Telecom Minister A Raja in Delhi, Chennai and his village Velur besides conducting raids at the premises of a possible business associate and four other Telecom officials, including his personal secretary R K Chandolia. Raids were also carried out at the houses of former Telecom Secretary Siddarth Behura, Chandolia, Member Telecom Commission K Sridhar and Deputy Director General in the Department of Telecom A K Srivastava.