Maran arrest must in ‘illegal’ phone lines probe, CBI says

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday told the Supreme Court that former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran’s arrest for interrogation was necessary to unearth how he as telecom minister had forged official records to allow his family-run Sun TV to illegally use 764 telephone lines without paying for it.
In an affidavit before a bench headed by Justice T S Thakur, the CBI said, “Custodial examination of Maran is required to ascertain the actual usage of these lines for the benefit of Sun TV which is in the exclusive knowledge of the former telecom minister.
“There is evidence of forging/tampering and manipulation of records and custodial interrogation is necessary to ascertain the modus operandi of the usage of the illegal telephone exchange to ascertain the actual usage and consequential loss to the public exchequer. Maran was granted one more opportunity to cooperate with investigation which he failed resulting in rejection of anticipatory bail (by the HC).”
Terming Maran’s attitude to CBI’s questions as non-cooperative and evasive, the agency submitted a list of telephone lines granted to former telecom ministers and said “all previous ministers were provided with a few telephone connections under service category with the approval of the department of telecom. Some of the ministers obtained connections in private capacity, for which payments were made by them”.
“Maran obtained more than 750 telephone numbers illegally and without the approval of DoT and without any payments by him,” it said, rejecting the ex-minister’s claim that it was at best a civil liability. The CBI claims that such illegal use of 764 telephone lines resulted in a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to BSNL.
“Civil liabilities as claimed by Maran cannot compensate the criminal wrongs committed by him and others. All the telephone connections were obtained by the petitioner illegally and fraudulently by showing them under service category in connivance with the chief general manager of BSNL, Chennai,” it said.
“As per records, Sun TV placed a purchase order worth Rs 50 lakh to buy a number of high-end EPBAX, which were installed at the residences of Dayanidhi Maran, enabling Sun TV to use the facilities. It is required to know whether Maran has any stake in Sun TV, how these lines were used for the benefit of Sun TV and what data was transferred through these lines/leased circuits,” the CBI said.
The agency also alleged that Maran had obtained several leased line circuits and 19 pre-paid mobile SIMs from BSNL, Chennai, illegally and without entitlement under service category for which neither bills were raised nor payments made.