Illegal telephone exchange case: CBI seeks custody of Maran
Accusing former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran of misleading the investigation in the illegal telephone exchange case, the CBI pushed the Supreme Court for his custodial interrogation, saying his liberty as an individual is subject to supremacy of law.
The CBI accused Mr. Maran of giving “many” evasive and contradictory replies, retractions and “deliberately hiding facts in his exclusive knowledge” during continuous questioning from July 1-3, 2015.
The CBI had registered an FIR against Mr. Maran and others alleging that 764 telephone lines, including 353 high-end connections, were provided at his residence and extended to his brother Kalanithi Maran’s Sun TV channel to enable its uplinking when Dayanidhi Maran was Telecom Minister from 2004-07. The FIR estimated a loss of over Rs. 1.7 crore to the public exchequer.
A Bench led by Justice T.S. Thakur allowed Mr. Maran, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Sumesh Dhawan, to file a rejoinder to the CBI affidavit. The case has been posted for hearing on October 1.
In the affidavit, the CBI assured the court that no physical harm will come to Mr. Maran in custody as the “police officers would conduct themselves in a responsible manner”. It said there is every possibility that Mr. Maran would influence the witnesses considering his stature and his capacity to “systematically and clandestinely acquire a huge network of telephone services illegally without any entitlement”.
The CBI reasoned that the concept of regulated freedom, societal restriction and supremacy of law should be considered along with the liberty of an individual to ensure a fair and effective investigation.
It said his custodial interrogation is required to unearth crucial parts of a “larger conspiracy about the actual use of connections for the benefit of Sun TV, which are in his exclusive knowledge and to quantify the huge actual loss caused because of the illegal usage of high-end telecom facilities”.
The CBI called Mr. Maran the “main conspirator” who played an “integral and cardinal role in the criminal conspiracy and abused his official position to its maximum during his stint as Union Minister”.
In the previous hearing on August 12, the agency faced embarrassing questions from the court about the loss of Rs. 1.7 crore. The court even asked the CBI whether it was trying to “fix” the ex-minister owing to political vendetta.
Justice Thakur had asked why the CBI needed to arrest a man for over a Rs. 1 crore pending phone bill.
In reply, the CBI affidavit contended that the estimated loss of Rs. 1,78,71,391 was “only towards installation charges and since no meters were fixed, the total loss could not be quantified and same is being investigated”.
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Source:Thehindu
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