CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Thursday adjourned the petition moved by CBI to cancel former Union Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran’s anticipatory bail to Monday, expressing doubt as to whether he received notice on the petition or not.
Justice R Subbiah raised the doubt as Dayanidhi’s counsel was missing during the proceeding and details were missing from the cause list for the day.
Pointing out that of the six weeks anticipatory bail granted to Dayanidhi four weeks have already expired, the judge asked the CBI: “What is the urgency in moving this petition when only two weeks of AB is pending.”
On July 16, the central agency approached the High Court to cancel Dayanidhi’s anticipatory bail, accusing him of deliberately suppressing information in the multi-crore illegal BSNL Telephone Exchange scandal to save himself and others. The agency wanted to take him into custody for interrogation.
The allegation against Dayanidhi Maran is that as an MP, he was entitled to only three telephone connections besides two mobile connections, subject to an annual cumulative consumption of 1,50,000 calls. Whereas, Maran in collusion with the then BSNL Chennai Telephones CGM illegally obtained 364 telephone lines at his Gopalapuram residence in Chennai.
Besides, in December 2006 when Maran shifted his residence to Boat Club Road, another 363 high end connections were added. The CBI has estimated the loss exchequer at Rs 1,78,71,391.