Illegal telephone exchange case : CBI Opposes discharge plea of Maran brothers

When the discharge petitions plea filed by Maran brothers and other accused came up for hearing before XIV Additional Judge for CBI cases S Natarajan, the CBI opposed it stoutly contending that the chargesheet was filed against them after a thorough probe.

The CBI also submitted that all the charges framed against the accused were supported by material and documentary evidences and wanted the court to dismiss the discharge pleas filed by them.

During the hearing, the CBI also  filed additional affidavits supporting their claims.

As the counsels for Maran brothers sought time to file their reply for the additional affidavits, the Judge adjourned further hearing in the case to November 21.

 The court also allowed applications moved by the Maran brothers seeking to dispense with their appearance today.

It may be recalled that the CBI had filed the chargesheet against the Maran brothers, two retired Chief General Managers of BSNL and the Additional Private Secretary to Mr Dayanidhi Maran under Sections 120-B read with 409, 467 and 471 of IPC and section 13(2) read with 13(1)(c) and (1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The CBI had registered a case on July 23, 2013 against them on the allegations of installing a number of high end telecommunication facilities having PRA/BRA/ISDN/Leased Line at the residence of Mr Dayanidhi Maran at Chennai, illegally under service category and did not raise bills for the same during the period 2004 to 2007, and thereby caused huge loss to the Government exchequer.

It was alleged that during the period from June 2004 to December 2007, 364 (approx) Telephone numbers/lines were installed at Gopalapuram, Chennai residence of the then Union Minister and during the period December 2006 to September 2007, more than 300 telephone lines were installed at the First Avenue Boat Club Road, Chennai which was the new residence of Mr Dayanidhi Maran.

A special CBI team from New Delhi had on January 21, 2015 arrested Gowthaman, Chief Technical Officer S Kannan and electrician K S Ravi of Sun TV network recently in connection with case.

The charges against Mr Maran was that there were nearly 323 residential lines allegedly in the name of the BSNL General Manager connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister between 2004 to 2006.

The CBI has named Maran and BSNL officials, including the then Chief General Manager K Bramhanathan and MP Veluswami in the FIR filed in October 2013 following a preliminary inquiry in which the agency claimed to have found enough material to proceed with a regular case against the former Union minister.

The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a 'virtual' telephone exchange was allegedly set-up at the then Telecom Minister's house for facilitating data transfer from Sun TV.

These lines were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge data thus facilitating faster transmission of TV news and programmes across the globe.

According to the CBI, Dayanidhi Maran, during the check period of June 2004 to December 2006, when he was the Union minister for communication and information technology, misused his office and installed a private telephone exchange at his residences in Chennai and utilised the facility for business transactions involving Sun Network.