CHENNAI:THE Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside an order of a Special Court for CBI cases discharging former Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanidhi Maran of SUN TV network and seven others in the alleged multi-crore BSNL telephone exchange scam case.
The HC held that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe had established a prima facie case that Dayanidhi Maran, while functioning as a public servant in the capacity of Union Minister from May 2004 to May 2007, had conspired with the other accused and obtained 764 telephone numbers at his Chennai and Delhi residences under service category without being entitled to it and by violating all procedures and norms. Thereby he had caused an undue loss of `1.79 crore to the government exchequer and undue gain to him, if all the material submitted by CBI were proved, Justice G Jayachandran said.
The judge was allowing a revision petition from the CBI challenging the order dated March 14 last of the XIV Additional Special Judge for CBI cases.The other accused Kalanidhi Maran, (owner of SUN TV), K B Brahmadathan and M P Velusamy, the then Chief General Managers of BSNL, Vedagiri Gowthaman, K S Ravi and S Kannan were also alleged to be part of the criminal conspiracy and to have played crucial roles in obtaining and maintaining these illegal telephone connections. Velusamy also allegedly generated an ante-dated false reply to help Dayanidhi Maran claim that no dues were recoverable from him towards telephone charges, the judge pointed out.
Considering the police report and the documents, the only opinion any judicial mind could form was that there were grounds to presume all the seven accused had committed offences and not otherwise, the judge said, allowing the revision petition and directing the trial court to frame charges and complete the trial within 12 months.
‘Can’t Maran have exchange if DefMin can use flight?’
During closing remarks of their submissions, a senior counsel for the accused said the man who had brought the broadband facility to every corner of the country was now being hunted by CBI for political reasons. The judge pointed out that the records indicated otherwise. “Dayanidhi Maran, by virtue of the office, might have been instrumental for popularising broadband facility. It does not mean that he can claim the privilege of unlimited usage of that facility for him, his brother and his business establishment free of costs,” the judge said.
Another argument of the senior counsel was that while the defence minister was permitted to enjoy exclusive Air Force aircraft for her journey and the Railway minster exclusive saloon for his travel in the train, why could the Telecom Minister not have an exclusive exchange. “To this argument the logical answer could be, “Yes, If law permits.” The corollary will be, if law does not permit, they are liable for prosecution. It is amply shown in this case that law does not permit to have the facilities enjoyed by the accused under service category, hence they are liable for prosecution,” the judge said.
Excerpts from the HC order
The CBI in its chargesheet had said, the facilities given to Dayanidhi Maran were excessive, without authority and not in consonance to the rules and entitlement of a Minister or MP