The dramatic conclusion of the 2G saga, that saw the acquittal of 18 persons by a special court on Thursday, was dubbed as “unfortunate” by those involved with the drafting of the first FIR in the spectrum case.
The then Deputy Inspector General (DIG), CBI, Vineet Agarwal, who initiated the case and headed the investigations until 2010, told The Hindu that once the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) put a notional number to the allegations, it was always going to be difficult for the investigators to match up to it.
Mr. Agarwal is currently Special Director, Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai.
“We [the investigating agencies] have a tendency to go overboard while probing such cases — binding together weak as well as strong evidence just to increase quantum instead of quality. At least now, the legal bodies must define the difference between a notional loss and an opportunity cost lost, which was the crux of this case,” said Mr. Agarwal.
Mr Agarwal, who personally drafted the FIR against ‘unknown persons,’ was transferred in April 2010 to his parent Maharashtra cadre.
“To be honest, we drafted it against unknown persons hoping without the names of Mr. A. Raja and Co. it would pass muster with the ruling dispensation. There was pressure on the CBI, but by then I had completed my tenure. I just feel the time has come we define in law what is an irregularity and what is criminal misconduct. As it is, it is hard to investigate cases with notional inflated figures based on some thesis which may not stand scrutiny of the law,” he said.
