The illegal ‘telephone exchange scam’ is now a decade-old. The case involved the former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran and his elder brother Kalanithi Maran. A special court for CBI discharged the two as the CBI wasn’t able to raise evidence to maintain their connection to the case.
The court said that no case could be made and discharged not only the two brothers but the other five involved as well. Judge Natarajan said that the CBI wasn’t able to establish the allegations against both of them. The charge against them had surfaced during the checking between June 2004 and December 2006. It was claimed that Dayanidhi was given 764 telephone lines and high-speed data lines which were misused for Sun TV’s commercial purposes. CBI charged that a loss of 1.78 crores was caused to the exchequer.
Last October, the court had tried to frame the brothers and the five accomplices, but they moved the discharge petitions this was opposed by the CBI saying that it had filed a charge sheet against the accused and that all the claims were supported by evidence. The others accused include former BSNL general manager K Brahmanathan, former deputy general manager M P Velusamy, Dayanidhi’s private secretary Gauthaman and other Sun TV officials.
CBI though isn’t satisfied with this decision, in fact, they were surprised such a verdict was passed. They said they would appeal against it in the Madras High Court. They still believe that they have a solid case against the accused and that they had sufficient evidence to prove that they are guilty. It would be a shame if a scam went unnoticed where there is proof. But then again there would have to be enough evidence to prove it. The CBI has a challenge on its hands. The case is still far from being closed as things stand.