India’s feds caught little fish, let big fish go

The petitioner in the case that pushed India's Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the allotment of 2G telecom licenses has accused the feds of snapping up the small fry but letting the big fish go, reports the Times of India.

The paper said the petitioner questioned the agency's wisdom in leaving out heads of Reliance ADAG, Tata Tele Services and Loop Telecom from the chargesheet.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that those chargesheeted were mere paid employees and the CBI knew full well that they could not have committed a fraud of such magnitude without the direct involvement of company bosses, the paper said.

Though he apparently stopped short of a direct statement, several of Bhushan's arguments amounted to a veiled call for the charging and arrest of Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) chairman Anil Ambani — two of India's most powerful billionaires.