A special CBI court in Chennai on Wednesday discharged the former Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and five others in the illegal telephone exchange case.
The Maran brothers and the others, the former Minister's then personal secretary V.Gowthaman; former Chief General Managers of BSNL K. Brahmanathan; former Deputy General Manager of BSNL M. Velusamy; Sun TV network's vice-president (technical) S. Kannan; and technician K.S. Ravi, appeared before the court.
CBI special judge Natarajan said, “There is no prima facie material against you. Hence you are discharged from case."
The CBI alleged that a number of high-end telecommunication facilities were installed at the residence of Mr. Dayanidhi (when he was the Telecom Minister), illegally under the service category. Bills were not raised for these lines during the period 2004 to 2007, causing financial loss to the exchequer. During June 2004 to December 2006, about 364 telephone numbers/lines were installed at Mr. Dayanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence in Chennai. After that, about 353 telephone lines were installed at his residence on Boat Club Road, Chennai, the CBI said.
Besides this, 10 BSNL post-paid mobile connections with vanity numbers were given to Sun TV Network Group as per the verbal orders of Mr. Dayanidhi through which huge data transfer including voice, video and audio were made, the prosecution alleged.
The CBI, which alleged a loss of ₹1.78 crore to the exchequer, had invoked provisions under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A CBI spokesperson told The Hindu, "We are yet to receive a copy of the judgment relating to the illegal telephone exchange case against the then Union Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran and others. We will the examine the judgment and seek appropriate legal remedy in the matter."
