A Raja attacks P C Chacko for his comments on trial proceedings

NEW DELHI: Former Telecom Minister A Raja, an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, has attacked Congress spokesman P C Chacko for his comments on the prosecutor's arguments that commenced yesterday.

In a statement, he said the arguments of the public prosecutor were the exclusive domain of the proceedings of the court and media was entitled to report them.

"However, to our shock and surprise, Mr. P C Chacko, who was earlier the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee ( JPC) for spectrum issue and submitted his report before Parliament, is now commenting on the proceedings of the other forum, namely the trial court," Raja said.

He said Chacko did not call him before the JPC for deposition despite several requests from him and leaders of various parties and assurances from him.

"Again, the man who did not have the courage to call me before the JPC for my deposition..... is now attempting to interfere in other ways with the proceedings of the trial court to mislead the media and public which is totally untenable, uncivilised and unwarranted," he said.

Yesterday Chacko had said that the CBI statement, which included points like Raja misled the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, "is a fact".

Chacko, who headed the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum allocation issue, said that there were "deviations" to the first come first served principle, a point that was also made by the prosecutor.