Madras HC asks CBI to file counter in Maran brothers case

Chennai: Former Union Minister Dayananidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi Maran have approached the Madras high court challenging the proceedings of the CBI court, framing charges against them in the illegal telephone exchange case.

 Justice A.D.Jagdish Chandra, before whom the petition filed by Maran brothers and two others came up for hearing, directed the CBI to file counter affidavit and posted further hearing of the case to October 3.

 Senior counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Dayanidhi Maran, submitted that the charges framed were lame and were liable to be quashed. The CBI was wrong in alleging that the former minister held telephone connections more than that were legally permitted. The restriction to have only three connections will apply only to Members of Parliament as per the Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament Act. It does not apply to a Cabinet Minister. There was no statutory bar for a minister to have more than three telephone service connections, he added.

 He said the minister did not have 764 telephone connections as alleged by the CBI. Even if he had, there was no statutory bar against it. In the entire charge sheet, there was no single word saying that the connections were used by the minister. The CBI has only said it could be used or can be used. Telephones cannot be used for broadcast. There was absolutely no evidence to prove that the lines were used for programmes of Sun TV. The entire case was based on presumption of the CBI and there was not even a single document to prove that the telephones were used for the benefit of Sun TV, he added.