Mumbai: A special CBI court today acquitted all accused in the three cases related to the 2G spectrum allocation. The case pertained to graft and money laundering charges against a former telecom minister, politicians, and business executives in the grant of spectrum licences

Deciding the fate of all accused, including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanithi, the court opined, "Absolutely no hesitation in holding that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any of the accused, made in its well choreographed charge sheet."

The CBI had claimed that Raja had devised his own way of granting telecom licences, brushed aside the first-come-first-served principle, misled the (then) Prime Minister, disregarded the concerns of other ministries and ran a parallel office at home to grant licences to whosoever offered him gratification.

The case relates to alleged below-market-price sale of lucrative telecom permits bundled with airwaves in 2008, which a federal auditor said may have cost the government as much as $28 billion in lost revenue.

In 2012, the Supreme Court ordered 122 licenses held by eight operators to be revoked, declaring the licenses illegal and the process “wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest.”

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