CBI haste to arrest Dayanidhi Maran draws SC ire

Sniffing political vendetta behind the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI's) hurry to arrest Dayanidhi Maran, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a huge relief to the former Union telecom minister staying the Madras High Court order cancelling his bail in the illegal telephone exchange case.

The court also did not give permission to the premier investigating agency to interrogate him in custody. A bench headed by justice TS Thakur gave Maran protection from arrest till September 14 by which time the CBI has to respond to his plea challenging cancellation of anticipatory bail.

"You should not be coming here with political vendetta. Are you attempting to fix him? What is the need for arrest of a man for Rs 1 crore pending phone bill. FIR was filed in 2013, why didn't you arrest him then? Why did you wait for three full years? Is it a matter of prestige for you to arrest him? Of course nobody shall get away after causing loss to the public exchequer?but is custodial interrogation required in such cases? We do not feel so," justice Thakur told Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.

Need to arrest "Rs800 crore worth of public money was lost in the NHRM scam in Uttar Pradesh. But you have not made a single arrest. Here you want to arrest for Rs1 crore phone bill dues. Are you trying to get at him?" justice Thakur asked Rohatgi.

"If you are of the conclusion that phone lines were fixed as part of conspiracy, question him and the BSNL officials. What is the need of arrest," asked the bench.

Cancelling his anticipatory bail, the Madras High Court had on Monday ordered Maran to surrender within three days to face charges of having the illegal telephone exchange in his house during his years in office between 2004 and 2007. Maran had approached the apex court with just 48 hours remaining for surrender deadline to end.

"See he is even ready to clear the dues," the bench said after Shyam Diwan, appearing for Maran, said, "There is no criminality in this case, only monetary claim. We will pay if any dues."

But Rohatgi argued that there was corruption writ large and he had used his leverage in the government to fix lines for misusing for his private business in Sun TV.

Bail cancellation Diwan argued that the high court did not consider the legal circumstances before cancellation of bail and the order was an error in law. He argued that the bail was cancelled only when there was danger of the person fleeing the country or influencing the witnesses.

But the AG insisted on interrogation, saying it was essential to prove conspiracy involving him, Sun TV and BSNL.

According to the prosecution, Maran as a minister entered into a criminal conspiracy with officials of the BSNL and by abusing their official position, caused a huge financial loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs1.78 crore. The high court held that "prima facie" Maran had "misused" his office by obtaining telephone connections "illegally" and allegations against him were backed by material.

An FIR was registered against Maran and others alleging that more than 300 high-speed telephone lines 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.