Raja aide Sadhick Batcha suicide adds to 2G intrigue

Days before the CBI files a chargesheet in the 2G spectrum scam, a long time associate of disgraced former telecom minister A. Raja was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his Chennai residence on Wednesday.

Around noon, Sadhick Batcha’s wife Reha Bhanu found him hanging in his room on the first floor of his house in the heart of the city. While she informed the police, his family members rushed him to a corporate hospital.

Declared brought dead around 1.20 pm, the body was immediately sent for a postmortem at the government-run Royapettah Hospital. The body was covered from head to toe, lending credence to unconfirmed reports that the 47-yearold Batcha had sustained a head injury.

Family sources said he was booked on an afternoon flight to Delhi, where he was to be quizzed by CBI sleuths. In her complaint, Bhanu said her husband had taken the extreme step, unable to bear the shame and huge embarrassment caused by the 2G scam. Curiously, the grief stricken family had locked the house and proceeded to their native Perambalur after the body was taken to the hospital. Bhanu had to cut short her journey, though, as she had to sign the papers for the autopsy and file a complaint.

The police have recovered a suicide note in which Batcha said he was embarrassed by the CBI raids at his premises in connection with the 2G scam but blamed no one for taking the extreme step. In his note Batcha had also expressed regret for Raja’s plight.

The letter, which started with an apology, also expressed his wish to be reborn and wanted his siblings to be happy and his wife and children to stay in Chennai for their education. The police filed an FIR for a case of suicide following a complaint by Bhanu. The Tamil Nadu government has decided to transfer Batcha’s suicide case to the CBI.

While foul play is suspected in his death, the city police maintained that he might have committed suicide. The postmortem will be conducted on Thursday.
The police conducted a search of Batcha’s house on Wednesday evening. His wife, mother and mother-in-law were questioned. In December 2010, his house and office were raided by the CBI. His arrest was said to be on the cards.

The managing director of the realty firm Green House Promoters, Batcha was quizzed by the agency as part of its investigations into the money trail in the 2G scam. The CBI suspects that there could be kickbacks involved in this venture as Raja’s close relatives were stakeholders in this company, which allegedly fronted for Raja. M/s Green House was set up in 2004 with a capital of `1 lakh, the turnover of which rose to many hundred crore in a short span.

Speculation was rife that Batcha had spilled the beans and would eventually turn informant. Batcha could have provided vital leads regarding the trail of money, including potential beneficiaries. Just the other day, in fact, the CBI had told the Supreme Court that it had definitive clues about the off-shore firms in which the spectrum loot was stashed away.

For the DMK, this latest twist could not have come at the worst time as it ensures that the 2G scam remains a live electoral plank, providing the Opposition the arsenal to unseat the party.