2. A. Raja: Four times member of parliament and twice Communication and Information Technology minister at the Centre due to "coalition compulsions", this politician played a key role in the 2G spectrum scam. As minister, Raja ordered collections of bids on first-come-first-served basis within a short time span, so much so, that bigwigs of telecom service providers had to literally sprint through Sanchar Bhavan, to give their bids within the short stipulated time.
According to CBI reports, approximately Rs. 3,000 crore changed hands with the spectrum allotted to favourites. It was alleged that Raja took inducement from some telecom companies to bring forward the cut-off date for applications for spectrum from October 1 to September 25, 2007.
He was also under allegations that he operated bank accounts in Mauritius and Seychelles, which were in his wife's name, to safeguard the money received from the scam.
He was jailed in 2011 but later managed to get released on bail in 2012. The 2G spectrum case is presently meandering through the great Indian legal maze.
