Illegal telephone exchange case: CBI challenges discharge of Maran brothers

Source – indiatimes.com

CHENNAI: Three months after a special court for CBI cases discharged former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran and his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran from the decade-old illegal telephone exchange case, the CBI has approached the Madras high court challenging it.

Admitting the criminal revision petition, Justice G Jayachandran ordered notice to Maran brothers and seven others accused in the case returnable by June 20.

On March 14, special judge Natarajan said he was discharging all the seven accused from the case since there was no prima facie evidence to prove the charges against them.

According to the CBI, Dayanidhi Maran, during the check period of June 2004 to December 2006, when he was Union minister for communication and information technology, had misused his office and installed a private telephone exchange at his residences in Chennai and utilised the facility for business transactions involving Sun Network.It said he had caused a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer. More than 700 telecom lines had been installed at their residences in Boat Club and Gopalapuram here, the agency charged.