2G spectrum case: ASG Tushar Mehta named Special Public Prosecutor, will lead appeal against verdict

Mehta will oversee the appeal against the CBI special court verdict by February 19.

File picture of Tushar Mehta. (Screengrab from YouTube)

NEW DELHI: The Centre has indicated its seriousness in pursuing the 2G Spectrum Scam case despite the recent acquittal of most of the accused by a trial court. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has been named the Special Public Prosecutor for the case.

Mehta will take over from Anand Grover, whom the Supreme Court had appointed in September 2014, when the then SPP UU Lalit had been elevated as a judge of the apex court.

The move to name Mehta to the job came through a gazette notification published on Thursday. Mehta had been appointed an ASG in June 2014. He had earlier served as an Additional Advocate General to the Gujarat government since 2008.

The Centre has given the go-ahead to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appeal against the verdict delivered by special CBI court judge OP Saini. All the accused in the case, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP K Kanimozhi, had been acquitted.

The verdict also came with stinging criticism of the case the CBI and ED had built. The judge criticised the proof as insufficient and circumstantial.

Mehta, who now takes on the mantle of presenting the case built by the CBI and ED, now has till February 19 to appeal against the CBI trail court verdict in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Both the CBI and ED have maintained from the time the verdict was delivered that it has not been 'viewed in the right perspective'.

Raja and Kanimozhi were among a number of others, including senior civil servants, who were accused of conspiring to subvert the auction process for the allocation of 2G spectrum licenses. Both have spent time in prison as the allegations rose in tempo and the case was built against them.

Soon after they were acquitted, both Raja and Kanimozhi expressed happiness and said they stood vindicated. They had also alleged a political witch hunt against them and their part, the DMK.