Sources said Gopalan told the JPC, headed by Congress MP P C Chacko, that the note was a collective effort of various ministries, intended to harmonise facts available and provide a backgrounder to the whole 2G issue. He said being the top official involved in the exercise, he did take responsibility for the preparation of the note. Gopalan was accompanied by Finance Secretary R S Gujral and senior officials.

Gopalan, according to sources, faced a volley of questions from Opposition members, particularly those from the BJP. They asked if the word “seen” written on the note with reference to the Finance Minister implied that it had the approval of Pranab Mukherjee.

Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI asked whether the note blamed the then finance minister P Chidambaram for not preventing the scam by insisting on an auction of the 2G spectrum. Gopalan merely said it was a statement of facts.

Opposition members sought to know what Gopalan and his colleagues were doing when the allocation was being made. They asked if they tried to find out whether or not DoT was following up on the objections flagged by them.

According to a 2003 Cabinet decision, the Finance Ministry and the DoT were to decide on spectrum pricing. The March 25 note suggested that Chidambaram could have prevented the scam by insisting on an auction of the 2G spectrum.