Illegal telephone exchange scam: "Maran needs no special concession"

New Delhi, Aug 11: Former Union Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran was given three days time to surrender before the Central Bureau of Investigation which is investigating the illegal telephone exchange scam.

While Maran will look to move the Supreme Court against this order of the Madras High Court, it is interesting to note some of the stinging observations that were made in this case.

The FIR in this case was lodged in the year 2013, but the CBI made no move to arrest him. In fact recently the agency called him in for questioning and when they found absolute lack of cooperation from him, they decided to move the Madra High Court seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail.

Why should Maran get special concession?

When the matter came up for hearing before the Madras High Court, Maran's legal team argued that he was being humiliated and the allegations made against him were false. The court however took into consideration the submissions made by the Additional Solicitor General of India arguing on behalf of the CBI.

The court said that it agreed with the submissions made by the Additional Solicitor General who said that there are a number of under trials languishing in jail in India. Why should Maran be given that special concession then? There are serious allegations of corruption and cheating made by the CBI against Maran, the court also observed.

The court said that on evaluating the material available against Maran, it finds that prima facie a role played by Maran played in misusing his office as a telecom minister. There is no frivolity in the demand that has been made by the prosecution to cancel his anticipatory bail, Justice Vaidyanathan of the Madras High Court also observed in his order.

The charge against Maran:

The CBI in its chargesheeet had said that Maran as the Union Telecom Minister had installed 300 high speed lines at his Boat Club Road Residence in Chennai. These lines were used for faster transmission of signals which benefited his Sun TV network. He had obtained without entitlement 364 actual telephone numbers.

These connections had the billing addresses of the Chief General Manager, BSNL, Chennai. The CBI alleged that Maran had used his office as minister to set up these connections illegally and without entitlement and this made out a very serious offence of corruption and cheating.

OneIndia News