2G scam: Handwriting expert may be hired to verify A Raja's associate Sadiq Batcha's note

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, is likely to enlist the services of a handwriting expert to verify the authenticity of the suicide note purportedly written by Sadiq Batcha, who was an associate of former telecom minister A Raja.

CBI believes Batcha laundered huge amounts of ill-gotten money received by Raja as bribes during his stint as telecom minister. Batcha, promoter of a firm, Green House Exports, was found hanging in his home in Chennai on March 16. Even though initial reports suggested that he had committed suicide, the circumstances under which he gave up his life raised many questions.

To clear the air, the Supreme Court had asked CBI to probe whether Batcha had committed suicide, or victim of foul play. The decision to utilise the services of a handwriting expert was taken after a forensic report presented in the Delhi High Court earlier this week pointed out that the suicide note was in his own handwriting and that there were no signs that he was coerced into writing it.

CBI has roped in a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to examine the viscera and post-mortem details of Batcha to rule out foul play in his death. Batcha had been interrogated thrice by CBI before his sudden death.

His wife had also maintained that he had committed suicide since he was unable to cope with the pressure and stress connected with the 2G spectrum allocation probe. But the contents of Batcha’s suicide note has aroused the suspicion of a section of political leaders and legal experts, who said that the note may not have been written by Batcha.