NEW DELHI: As he acquitted all 17 accused including former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum case, a judge today commented that despite "religiously devoting seven years" to the cases, no legally admissible evidence was placed before him by the CBI.
"I may also add that for the last about seven years, on all working days, summer vacation included, I religiously sat in the open Court from 10 AM to 5 PM, awaiting for someone with some legally admissible evidence in his possession, but all in vain," said Judge OP Saini in a 1,552 page verdict.
The trial in the spectrum scandal, which battered the Congress-led Manmohan Singh government and left it with the tag of excessive corruption, began in 2011. This was a year after the national auditor said that there had been massive irregularities in the allocation of second generation or 2G spectrum by Mr Raja.
The court of the special judge was set up in March 2011 following a Supreme Court order that all cases in the 2G investigation would be exclusively heard.
Judge Saini also noted that rumour, gossip and speculation created the public perception about the cases but this has no place in judicial proceedings.
"Not a single soul turned up. This indicates that everybody was going by public perception created by rumour, gossip and speculation. However, public perception has no place in judicial proceedings," the court said.
According to the judge, no evidence was produced on record before the court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused.
"The non-understanding of issues led to a suspicion of grave wrongdoing where there was none," said Judge Saini.
"In the beginning, the prosecution started with the case with great enthusiasm and ardour. However, as the case progressed, it became highly cautious and guarded in its attitude making it difficult to find out as to what prosecution wanted to prove... By the end, the quality of prosecution totally deteriorated and it became directionless and diffident," he noted.