2G case witness says he isn’t under CBI pressure

Former 2Gsenior Department of Telecom (DoT) official A K Srivastava has rebutted former telecom minister A Raja’s accusation that he is deposing falsely on certain aspects of the 2G scam case because he is under pressure of the CBI.

Srivastava, a former Deputy Director General of DoT, is a key witness in the alleged 2G scam case.

Sushil Kumar, Raja's lawyer in the case, cross-examined Srivastava on Tuesday. The lawyer asked Srivastava why he hadn’t told the central investigating agency earlier that Raja’s private secretary Chandolia had asked him if the department had received Unitech Group's applications for the 2G spectrum.

Raja's lawyer alleged that Srivastava was making false statements under pressure form the CBI.

But, Srivastava denied Raja's accusations that the fact relating to Chandolia asking him about Unitech's applications was explained to investigating agency by him.

Defending his claim, Srivastava said, “The fact was explained to CBI when investigating officer (IO) asked it. It is wrong to suggest that I have deposed about these two facts before this court under pressure of the CBI.”

In its charge sheet, the CBI had said that in order to make his conspiracy to favour Unitech Wireless Ltd and Swan Telecom, Raja had decided to acknowledge applications filed with the department till 25th of Sep. 2007 only.