2G scam:Supreme Court to hear plea for expanding probe before 2001

The Supreme Court on Monday will hear several issues related to the 2G scam icluding a plea to expand the scope of CBI investigation into allocation of spectrum priorto 2001 and on contempt proceedings against Sahara Group Chief for allegedly interfering with the probe. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly will hear the NGO's application seeking a direction to the CBI to register a case and investigate into various illegalities and irregularities in the telecom sector that took place prior to 2001. The bench till now has monitored the probe into allocation of spectrum from 2001 to 2007 and that of during the regime of Former Telecom MinisterA Raja. The application filed by NGO Citizens Grievances Redressal Foundation, which is being represented by senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, submitted that the CAG report will show that Vodafone, Bharat Airtel and Idea wre major beneficiaries of migration from fixed license fee to revenue sharing regime. The bench will also peruse the response of Roy against whom it found prima facie ground for initiating suo moto contempt proceedings for allegedly interfering with the probe in he 2G spectrum case. The Court on May 5 said there was a prima facie case againt Roy and two other journalists, Upendra Pai and Surendra Jain and directed them to respond to notices within six weeks. The bench took serious note of the fact that after summons were issued to the CMD of Sahara Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, crude methods were adopted. The bench had also banned Sahara News Network and its siter concerns from publishing and broadcasting any story or programme relating to Singh. Singh, who filed the petition in his personal capacity, claimed that Jain sent him 25 questions relating to him and his families assets, and threatened to start a campaign against him by publishing and broadcasting eries of stories. Reported by, AR