Odishatv Bureau
New Delhi: Fifteen months after his arrest in the 2G spectrum scam, former Telecom Minister A Raja today moved a Delhi court for bail for the first time on the ground of parity with other 13 accused who all have been granted the relief.

He filed his application to the court of Special CBI Judge O P Saini soon after former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, who was arrested along with him on February 2 last year, was granted bail by the Supreme Court. The special court issued notice to the CBI seeking its reply on May 11 on the plea of the DMK MP after he contended that he is "innocent" and the case against him is "false and fabricated".

"The case against the petitioner (Raja) is false and fabricated and is not sustainable on law or on facts. The petitioner is innocent and is likely to get acquitted. "All the individual accused persons in this case, except the petitioner, have been released on bail .... The petitioner is entitled to bail on the grounds of parity," Raja said in his four-page bail plea filed through advocate Manu Sharma.

Raja, who is the only accused yet to secure bail, also said he should be granted bail as he is unable to put his case before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which is looking into the various aspects of the issue. "The PAC of the Parliament and the JPC are also looking into various aspects of this matter. The petitioner has been unable to put his case before the PAC and the JPC on account of his being in custody," Raja said.

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