CBI now questions Videocon chairman Dhoot,his MP brother

Going after beneficiaries of the 2G licences in 2008,the CBI on Monday questioned Videocon group chairman Venugopal Dhoot and his brother and Rajya Sabha MP Rajkumar Dhoot in connection with the probe into the allocation of spectrum.

Going after beneficiaries of the 2G licences in 2008,the CBI on Monday questioned Videocon group chairman Venugopal Dhoot and his brother and Rajya Sabha MP Rajkumar Dhoot in connection with the probe into the allocation of spectrum. The investigations are being carried out in connection with Datacom Solution Pvt Ltd which was granted licences in 2008.

According to CBI officials,the brothers were called to the CBI headquarters and were questioned for more than seven hours. We have summoned the two to appear before the CBI in connection with the grant of licences to Datacom Solutions. The two were also confronted with documents of changing their share capital from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 150 crore, said a CBI official. With change in their share capital,the company not only became eligible but also stood in better position in many circles on the DoTs policy of first-come-first-serve.

The CBI officials also referred to a statement of their company secretary,submitted to the Department of Telecom,claiming change in the share capital and asked to explain the minutes of the meeting of an extraordinary general body of the company held on August 27,2007. The two were later asked to produce documents related to change in ownership of Datacom Solutions as the company is believed to be a front for Videocon Telecommunications.

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The agency is questioning all the beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum scam. The questioning of the two was part of the agency quizzing all the heads of nine companies which were allocated spectrum in 2008. Videocon was allocated a start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz in all circles except Delhi, added an official. The CBI had earlier questioned managing directors and heads of various telecom companies,including Reliance Infocomm chairman Anil Ambani,Essar CEO Prashant Ruia and Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report had also raised doubts over allocation of licences to Datacom Solutions,which later changed to Videocon Telecommunications.

According to the report,the new version of Memorandum of Association and Article of Association claimed to have increased the authorised share capital from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 150 crore through an ordinary resolution passed in the extraordinary general meeting on August 27,2007,a day preceding the date of submission of applications by the company.