SC extends stay on Maran's arrest in illegal telephone exchange case

New Delhi, Sept 14: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay it had granted on the arrest of former union Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran. This order bars the Central Bureau of Investigation from arresting Maran in connection with the illegal telephone exchange case.

The Supreme Court has fixed the next date of hearing for October 1. It has also asked the Union Government to file its reply in connection with the case.

When the court heard the matter for the first time on August 12, it had restrained the CBI from arresting Dayanidhi Maran.

The Supreme Court was moved after the Madras High Court had cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to Dayanidhi Maran. The CBI had moved the Madras High Court seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail on the ground that Maran had not cooperated with the investigations.

Maran's plea:
Maran in his petition had alleged that the cancellation of anticipatory bail by the CBI was sought only with an intention of humiliating him.

Maran argued that the legal circumstances were not taken into account when the Madras High Court had cancelled his bail. There is no danger of me leaving the country and fleeing or even influencing the witnesses in the case and hence the cancellation of anticipatory bail is wrong, he argued.

The CBI had contended that there was enough material to show Maran's involvement in the illegal telephone exchange scam. He was told to cooperate with the investigations but failed to do so, the CBI argued while also adding that relevant documents as sought were not handed over by Maran.

The CBI's contention is that Maran during his tenure as telecom minister had entered into a criminal conspiracy with some officials of the BSNL and installed over 300 telephone connections in his home which helped transmit data to his Sun TV network in high speed. This caused a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer, the CBI also contended.

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