New Delhi, 04 February 2012: In a huge political reprieve for the Home Minister P Chidambaram and the UPA government, a special CBI court on Saturday has dismissed a petition seeking him a co-accused in the 2G scam case.
The judgement was an in camera pronouncement in the presence of the petitioner.
The petitioner alleged that Chidambaram was equally culpable like former Telecom Minister A Raja as he also had a role in deciding the spectrum pricing and allowing telecom companies to off-load shares to foreign firms.
With the Supreme Court leaving the issue to be decided by the trial court, the ball is now in the court of Special CBI Judge OP Saini.
The court, on February 1, also halted for two days the ongoing day-to-day trial in the case for writing the much-awaited order.
A bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly, which asked the lower court not to get influenced by its decision, had also refused to direct CBI to "investigate Chidambaram".
The apex court, which came down heavily on former telecom minister A Raja and cancelled 122 2G licenses, however, did not find any fault on the part of the Prime Minister and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The petitioner, who concluded arguments in the trial court in support of his plea, had said the evidence brought on record, prima facie established that Chidambaram was also culpable like Raja in the case.