NEW DELHI: Former telecom minister A Raja on Tuesday accused former telecom secretary D S Mathur of falsely deposing against him, before a Delhi court here in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
While recording the statement of Mathur, Raja told special CBI Judge O P Saini that Mathur was falsely deposing against him fearing CBI prosecution.
“Mathur agreed to become a prosecution witness as he feared arrest in the case... He is under pressure,” Raja told the court.
Opposing the statement, Mathur told the court that he was not falsely deposing against Raja and was not under any pressure.
“It is wrong to suggest that I agreed to become a witness for the prosecution in the fear that I may be prosecuted...It is wrong to suggest that I have given a false statement under oath due to pressure of this investigation,” Mathur added.
Clarifying his role, Mathur denied the allegations that he was representing the interest of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) during the consideration of applications for grant of Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) and raised objections only regarding the licences to the new applicants.
“I raised the issues of availability of spectrum for the new applicants only as the number of applications was very large. It is wrong to suggest that I have been throughout representing the interest of COAI and its members,” he told the court.