Chennai: Two days after the Supreme Court directed Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV to face trial in the decade-old illegal BSNL telephone exchange case, along with his brother and former Union telecom minister Dayanithi Maran and others, the special court for CBI cases has decided to frame fresh charges against them on August 30.
When the matter came up for hearing before the XIV Additional court for CBI cases on Monday, special judge R. Vasanthi has posted the case to August 30 for framing charges and directed all the seven accused in the scam to appear before the court on August 30.
On August 18, the Supreme Court asked Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanithi Maran and five others to face trial before the CBI court. A three-judge bench of the Apex Court had dismissed appeals filed by Dayanidhi Maran and three others challenging recent high court order.
Madras high court while setting aside the trial court order discharging Maran brothers and others from the case remitted the case back to the special court for CBI cases and directed the court to continue the trial and complete framing of charges within 12 weeks.
Allowing the appeal from CBI, the high court on July 25 set aside the discharge order noting that the court is fully satisfied that heaps and heaps of materials are available to frame charges against all the accused.
The HC said none of the reasons given by the trial court to discharge them is sustained in law. The trial court judge had totally forgotten the fact that he should only weigh the probability of the case for framing charges.
According to CBI, Dayanidhi Maran, during the check period of June 2004 to December 2006 when he was Union minister for communication and information technology, misused his office and installed a private telephone exchange at his residences in Chennai and used it for business transactions involving Sun Network, owned by Kalanidhi.
CBI said Dayanidhi Maran allegedly caused a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer. More than 700 telecom lines had been installed in Maran's residences in Boat Club and Gopalapuram the agency alleged.
On March 14 this year, the special judge for CBI cases, Chennai S. Natarajan discharged all the seven accused — Dayandhi Maran, Kalanidhi Maran, former BSNL general manager K Brahmanathan, former deputy general manager M P Velusamy, Dayanidhi Maran's private secretary Gauthaman, Kannan and Ravi — Sun TV staffs from the case as there was no prima facie in the charges.
While discharging them Natarajan said this court comes to conclusion that prosecution had not placed sufficient material to establish that the allegation that Dayanidhi Maran got more phone connections with mala fide intention to use them for Sun Tv.
