CBI pastes 2G summons at Khaitans’ home

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, the CBI on Wednesday pasted the court summons at the residence of industrialist I P Khaitan and his wife Kiran Khaitan, accused in the Loop-Essar telecom c

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, the CBI on Wednesday pasted the court summons at the residence of industrialist I P Khaitan and his wife Kiran Khaitan, accused in the Loop-Essar telecom case.

The summons issued by 2G trial court was pasted at Khaitan’s New Friends Colony (NFC) residence after the agency failed to personally serve the summons on the duo. The Khaitans are a Non-resident Indian(NRI) couple, said to be currently based in Dubai.

According to CBI officials, they pasted the notice at the Khaitans’ NFC residence as it was the same address mentioned in their passports.They also revealed that the duo’s passports would be cancelled, if they failed to appear before the court.

However, a statement from Loop Telecom insisted that the Khaitans were not dodging the courts. “Mr & Mrs I P Khaitan are Non-resident Indians. Their residential address in Dubai has been provided to the CBI. Any summons should be served at the place where they are residing. Hence media reports suggesting that they are avoiding summons are completely incorrect and baseless. Loop and the Khaitans have at all stages cooperated with the authorities and continue to do so,” it said. Earlier in December, the 2G court had issued summons to Essar promoters Anshuman and Ravi Ruia and the Khaitans.

They were directed to appear before the CBI Special Court of O P Saini on January 27. The CBI had chargesheeted the Ruias and Khaitans, related to each other, for their alleged involvement in the Loop-Essar telecom case. While the Ruias are the promoters of Essar, Loop is promoted by Kiran Khaitan and her husband I P Khaitan. According to the CBI case, Essar had used Loop as a front to buy more licences and acquire spectrum beyond what was legally permissible. Department of Telecom(DoT) guidelines explicitly barred a single telecom company from owning more than 10% stake in another operator,  which provided services in the same area.  Though the CBI accused the Ruias and Khaitans of criminal conspiracy and cheating.

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