A special CBI court in Chennai on Wednesday adjourned to October 18 the case relating to alleged masking of international calls as local by erstwhile Reliance Infocomm, a group firm of Mukesh Ambani led RIL, causing loss to exchequer.
The CBI in 2006 had registered a case against six top officials, including Manoj Modi, of the company, which has since then been transfered to Anil Ambani as part of family settlement to divide Reliance Empire.
Five of the six accused -- Manoj Modi, director, Shankar Adawal, president corporate affairs, Akhil Gupta, CEO, business development, Pankaj Pawar, head of regulatory, and L B D Khuruna -- were present in the court on Wednesday.
When the matter came up for hearing, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Raja Singh adjourned the case.
"Prosecution has not furnished all documents so far. For furnishing the documents, the case has been adjourned to October 18," B Kumar and K S Dinakaran, counsels appearing for Reliance Infocomm, told reporters.
The Central Bureau of Investigation's case is that Reliance Infocomm had between May and September 2004 allegedly passed off incoming international calls as locals to avoid payment of a fee called access deficit charge to public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigaml Limited.
Reliance Infocomm was rechristened as Reliance Communications after it was transferred from Mukesh to younger brother Anil Ambani as part of family settlement in 2005.
The chargesheet said the accused persons intentionally tampered with the working of the telegraph network of the company and presented calls directly in the local network with a dishonest intention of defrauding the central government.
According to the chargesheet, the company transmitted over 7.52 crore minutes of international long distance calls with manipulated caller line identification during May-September 2004, evading access deficit charges to the tune of Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million).
Reliance Infocomm had under protest paid a fine of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) imposed by telecom tribunal TDSAT in 2005.
