The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government in India were allegedly involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditions that provided an advantage to specific telecom operators. A. Raja, then Telecom Minister, was accused of selling 2G spectrum licenses at a very low cost which resulted in the loss of ₹1,760 billion (US$25 billion) in government revenue. Raja was also accused of not following rules as well as not recognizing any advice from the Ministries of Finance and Law and Justice of India while allotting 2G spectrum licenses to telecom operators. Series of allegations were made on allotting 2G spectrum licenses including allegations from Central Bureau of Investigation after investigating the case alleging Raja for intentionally advancing the cut-off date (from 01/10/2007 to 25/09/2007) to favour specific firms (Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom), which were allegedly ineligible for applying for telecom licenses, in return for bribes.
On 21 December 2017, a special court in New Delhi acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum case including the prime accused Raja and Kanimozhi. The court ruled that the case was baseless. As per the judgement, "Some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels."
On 19 and 20 March 2018, the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI respectively filed appeals against this verdict in the Delhi High Court. On 22 March 2024, Delhi High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma agreed that the trial court's judgement required deeper examination and re-appreciation of entire evidence and admitted the CBI's appeal. The High Court noted that there were several contradictions in the trial court's judgement.
Background India is divided into 22 telecommunications zones, with 281 zonal licenses. In 2008, 122 new second-generation 2G Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses were granted to telecom companies on a first-come, first-served basis at the 2001 price. According to the CBI charge sheet, several laws were violated and bribes were paid to favour certain firms in granting 2G spectrum licenses. According to a CAG audit, licenses were granted to ineligible corporations, those with no experience in the telecom sector (such as Unitech and Swan Telecom) and those who had concealed relevant information. Although former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advised Raja to allot 2G spectrum transparently and revise the license fee in a November 2007 letter, Raja rejected many of Singh's recommendations. In another letter that month, the Ministry of Finance expressed procedural concerns to the DOT; these were ignored, and the cut-off date was moved forward from 1 October to 25 September 2007.
On 25 September 2007 the DOT announced on its website that applicants filing between 3:30 and 4:30 pm that day would be granted licenses. Although the policy for awarding licences was first-come, first-served, which was introduced during Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, Raja changed the rules so it applied to compliance with conditions instead of the application itself. On 10 January 2008, companies were given only a few hours to supply Letters of Intent and payments; some executives were allegedly tipped off by Raja.CBI Vs. A. Raja and others, Case RC No: 45 (A) 2009, CBI, ACB, New Delhi Although the corporation was ineligible, Swan Telecom was granted a license for and sold a 45-percent share to the UAE-based Etisalat for . Unitech Wireless (a subsidiary of the Unitech Group) obtained a license for , selling a 60-percent share for to Norway-based Telenor.
The following is a list of companies who received 2G licenses during Andimuthu Raja's term as telecom minister; the licenses were later cancelled by the Supreme Court: Company Telecom regions # of licenses Remarks Adonis Projects Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) 6 Adonis Projects, Nahan Properties, Aska Projects, Volga Properties, Azare Properties & Hudson Properties were acquired by Unitech. Since Unitech Infrastructure and Unitech Builders & Estates were subsidiaries of Unitech Group, in 2008 Unitech had 22 2G licenses. Later that year, Telenor bought a majority share in the telecom company from the Unitech Group and provided service as Uninor with 22 licences. Nahan Properties Assam, Bihar, North East, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh (east), West Bengal 6 Aska Projects Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka 3 Volga Properties Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra 3 Azure Properties Kolkata 1 Hudson Properties Delhi 1 Unitech Builders & Estates Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) 1 Unitech Infrastructures Mumbai 1 Loop Telecom Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh 21 Datacom Solutions Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Mumbai 21 Operates as Videocon Telecom Shyam Telelink Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, North East 17 Shyam Telelink & Shyani Telelink have a combined 21 licenses. In late 2008 Russia-based Sistema bought a majority share in the company, which now operates as MTS India. Shyani Telelink Mumbai, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh 4 Swan Telecom Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai 13 Swan was a subsidiary of Reliance Telecom established to circumvent the one-company-one-license rule. In 2008, Swan merged with Allianz Infratech; late in the year Abu Dhabi's Etisalat bought about 45 percent of the company, renaming it Etisalat DB Telecom. Allianz Infratech Bihar, Madhya Pradesh 2 Idea Cellular Assam, Punjab, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, North East, Kolkata, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) 9 Since Idea Cellular bought Spice Communications in 2008 for , of the 122 spectrum licenses sold in 2008 Idea owns 13. Seven are in use by the company, and the remainder are overlapping licenses. Spice Communications Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra 4 S Tel Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, North East, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh 6 In January 2009, Bahrain Telecommunications agreed to buy 49 percent of S Tel for $225 million. Chinnakannan Sivasankaran owns the remaining share. In May 2009, Sahara Group bought an 11.7-percent share in S Tel.Tata Teleservices Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, North East 3 In late 2008 Tata sold a 26-percent share to the Japanese NTT DoCoMo for about , or an enterprise value of .
Accused parties The selling of the licenses drew attention to three groups: politicians and bureaucrats, who had the authority to sell licenses; corporations buying the licenses, and professionals who mediated between the politicians and corporations.
Politicians The following charges were filed by the CBI and the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation in the Special CBI Court.
A. Raja Political career: Four-time DMK member of Parliament (currently member of Lok Sabha from Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu), former Union Minister of State for Rural Development (1999) and Health and Family Welfare (2003), former Union Cabinet Minister for Environment and Forests (2004) and Communication and Information Technology (2007 and 2009) Allegation: A joint investigative report by the CBI and the Income Tax Department alleged that Raja may have received a bribe for moving the cut-off date for spectrum applications forward. The changed deadline eliminated many applications, enabling Raja to favour a few applicants. The agencies also alleged that he used accounts in his wife's name in Mauritius and Seychelles banks for the kickbacks. A CBI charge sheet alleged that Raja conspired with the accused and arbitrarily refined the first-come, first-served policy to ensure that Swan and Unitech received licences. Instead of auctioning 2G spectrum, he sold it at the 2001 rate. Charges: Criminal breach of trust by a public servant (section 409), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratification. Status: Arrested by the CBI on 2 February 2011. Applied for bail on 9 May 2012, which was granted on 15 May.
Kanimozhi Political career: Youngest Daughter of five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. DMK member of Parliament, representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha till 2019, currently member of Lok Sabha from Thoothukudi. Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet, Kanimozhi owns 20 percent of family-owned Kalaignar TV; her stepmother, Dayalu Ammal, owns 60 percent of the channel. The CBI alleges that Kanimozhi was the "active brain" behind the channel and conspired with Raja to coerce DB Realty cofounder Shahid Balwa to funnel to Kalaignar TV. Kanimozhi was in regular contact with Raja about the launch of Kalaignar TV. Raja advanced the channel's cause, facilitating its registration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and adding it to DTH operator TATA Sky's lineup. Kanimozhi was charged with tax evasion by the Income Tax Department in Chennai. Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant and criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471), and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 May 2011. Granted bail on 28 November 2011, after 188 days in custody. On 21 December 2017, she has been acquitted by a Special CBI Court.
Bureaucrats A number of bureaucrats were named in the CBI charge sheet filed in its Special Court.
Siddharth Behura Position: Telecom Secretary when the licenses were granted. Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet, Behura conspired with Raja and several others. When the application deadline time was declared, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm Behura closed counters to block other telecom companies. Charges: Criminal breach of trust by a public servant (Section 409), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratuities. Status: Arrested by the CBI on 2 February 2011 and granted bail on 9 May 2012, and finally acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a Special CBI Court for lack of convincing evidence. On 10 July 2012 joint parliamentary committee deposition, Behura blamed Raja for most of the decisions related to 2G spectrum auctions.
RK Chandolia Position: Raja's private secretary when the licenses were granted. Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet Chandolia, like Behura, conspired with Raja and several others; when the application deadline time was declared from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, Chandolia joined Behura in shutting counters to physically block other telecom companies. Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act