New Delhi:  A Delhi trial court on Wednesday took cognizance of the third chargesheet filed against officials from Loop Telecom and Essar Group in the 2G spectrum case. It issued summons to all eight accused and now they have to appear in court on January 27.

Essar group promoters Anshuman and Ravi Ruia, Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan, her husband IP Khaitan and Essar Group director (Strategy and Planning) Vikas Saraf
and three companies — Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holding — have been named as accused in the third charge sheet.

The accused have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy. However, no corruption charges were made against them.

They have been asked to appear before the court on January 27, 2012.

The CBI in its charge sheet filed on December 12 has accused the Essar and Loop promoters of conspiring to cheat the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) but has not found
evidence to prosecute theme under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It said “investigation has not revealed evidence to prove mala-fide on the part of public servants in the matter.”

Essar Group, in a statement, had denied any involvement in the 2G scam and said it has complied with in totality with all conditions of telecom licences. It claimed that the CBI
has confirmed that Essar was not involved in the 2G scam.

The company claimed that the CBI has confirmed that Essar was not involved in the 2G scam.

The CBI has said the accused persons and companies created a “complex corporate veil” to cheat DoT by concealing that Essar, an existing telecom operator having substantial shares in Vodafone (then Hutch), was having more than 10 per cent stake in Loop Telecom.

Read more at: NDTV