Delhi HC rejects Etisalat official's plea for early hearing

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected the plea of the India Director of Etisalat DB Telecom, which faces probe in 2G spectrum scam, for an early disposal of his petition claiming the Maharashtra government and the Intelligence Bureau(IB) found no evidence against him of alleged link with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Justice S Muralidhar dismissed an application filed by Shahid Usman Balwa seeking the court to prepone the hearing of his petition which was fixed for March 7.

The UAE-based Etisalat DB Telecom company, earlier known as Swan Telecom, is facing CBI and ED probes in 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Filing an application, Balwa claimed the Anti-Terror Squad of Mumbai police and IB, after a thorough inquiry, have found no documents against him and despite the report the Centre has failed to file any affidavit so far.

Seeking the court to allow his plea for a restraint on the Centre from making any allegation of linking him with Dawood Ibrahim, Balwa said that due to such allegations he has been facing huge embarrassment in social and business circles.

"In view of the newspaper reporting false and incorrect allegations made against him, I am facing embarrassment in social and and business circle...As a result of wrongful and defamatory allegations, grave prejudice and loss is being caused to me," Balwa said in the application.

Balwa further stated that due to the allegations against him, some banks have cancelled the loan sanctioned to his company and also withdrawn the credit facilities sanctioned to his companies promoted by the petitioner.