New Delhi:
Pradip Baijal was the head of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from 2003-2006.
A former IAS officer of the 1966 batch, he was credited with helping form consumer-friendly policies.
A year after he retired as TRAI chief, Baijal joined Noesis - a firm owned by PR executive Niira Radia whose phones were tapped in 2008 and 2009. Her conversations are now a major chunk of the CBI's inquiry into the 2G scam. Baijal reportedly served as a Director of Noesis, along with Radia.
The CBI, which filed an FIR against unknown telecom officials in October 2009, interrogated Baijal last month. His residence in Noida was raided today by the CBI. Raids were also conducted at the Mumbai and Chennai offices of companies owned by Radia.
Baijal is reportedly being investigated for using his office as TRAI chief to favour some companies.
In 2004, Tata which was a client of Radia's, was granted nine new licenses. Companies like Airtel and Vodafone were given one new license each. There were unified licenses for circles or areas that were not applied for in 2001, when the first set of licenses were awarded.