New Delhi: Unitech Limited Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, has been allowed to go abroad by a special court which said that such travel is an individual's valuable right and it should not be curtailed without any sound reason.
Special CBI judge O P Saini allowed Chandra to travel to Edinburgh, Frankfurt and UAE from November 19 to November 25 for business purpose saying no fresh material has been brought to the court's notice to show that if permitted to travel abroad, the accused may misuse his liberty.
"Things are to be considered only prima facie just to satisfy that what the accused is saying or pleading is reasonable and correct in the light of his prayer and his station and employment in life.
"No fresh material has been brought to my notice to the effect that if permitted to travel abroad, the accused may misuse his liberty. There is no material on record to support such an apprehension or conclusion," the judge said.
"To travel abroad is one of the valuable rights of an individual and it should not be curtailed without any sound reason, more so, when the accused has been permitted to avail that right earlier on numerous occasions," the court said.
Chandra, along with others including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi, is facing trial in the 2G case.
His plea for travel abroad was opposed by CBI prosecutor on the ground that a Letters Rogatory (LR) was pending execution in the Isle of Man, part of the UK, and the agency sought its dismissal saying he might misuse his liberty.
The prosecutor said the application was not supported by appropriate documentation and there is no authority from the company (Unitech Ltd) to Chandra to travel abroad.
The prosecutor also said if the court allows Chandra's plea, stringent conditions should be imposed on him.
Chandra's counsel, however, said the court had earlier also allowed her client to go abroad on numerous occasions and he had complied with all the conditions and returned to the country according to the directions of the court.
The court, while allowing Chandra's plea, said the case is listed for final arguments on December 19 and all proceedings in the case are complete by now and the accused' presence was not required before it before that date.
The court, in its order, said, "Accused was permitted to travel abroad earlier also and on all occasions, he complied with all the conditions. There has been no adverse comment by the prosecution at any time."
"Furthermore, the documentation required for travelling abroad has to be looked prima facie in a general way and its authenticity is not to be examined as if the same is required to be admitted in evidence by following a higher standard of admission," it said.
Besides Raja, Kanimozhi and Chandra, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, are facing trial in the case.
Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case.
Besides these 14 accused, three telecom firms Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd are facing trial in the case.
The court had on October 22, 2011 framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.
The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.
