Delhi Police clean chit to Etisalat DB

No evidence of bribing IAS officer found against officials of Dubai-based firm

The Special Cell of Delhi Police have given a clean chit to the officials of the Dubai-based telecommunications firm Etisalat DB whose files were being pushed for security clearance by tainted IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh arrested along with a middleman under the Prevention of Corruption Act last year.

During investigations it was found that Singh was passing on sensitive information to the firms officials for sexual and monetary favours.

The companys name had also figured in the 2G spectrum scam involving former telecom minister A Raja who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). As many as six officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) including the personal assistant of Singh have been made a witness in the case.

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The MHA denied security clearance to the firm but Singh allegedly tried to slip in the rejected files clandestinely so that it could get the clearance.

The file had already been rejected by the MHA. Singh was trying to push these files hidden among a pile of other documents so that it could get clearance. We questioned the officials of the Dubai-based firm but so far we have not found their direct involvement in bribing Singh, said a senior police officer.

Police said they will soon file a supplementary chargesheet in the case but would not name any official of the telecommunications firm in it.

Police had arrested Singh,a 1994 batch IAS officer posted with the internal security wing,and middleman Vineet Kumar,owner of West Bengal-based Temptation Foods Private Limited,on November 22,2010 following inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

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Though Singh was not authorised for day-to-day dealings pertaining to the security clearance of the company,he took keen interest in it,police said. Police had intercepted over 12,000 conversations between Singh and Kumar to build up a case against the two. Police also said they have found transactions worth Rs 3.85 crore in the bank accounts of Singh and his wife.