Face trial in BSNL case: Supreme Court to Maran
Court dismisses appeals by Dayanidhi against HC order.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked former Union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran to face trial in the decade-old illegal BSNL telephone exchange case.
The Madras high court while setting aside the trial court order discharging Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran 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.
A three-judge bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, R. Banumathi and Navin Sinha dismissed the appeals filed by Dayanidhi Maran and three others against the high court order. Though Mr Kalanithi Maran did not prefer an appeal, the dismissal order would be applicable to him as well.
Justice Gogoi referred to the allegation against Dayanidhi Maran and said, “You have used the telephones for the business interests of your brother. This is not a case for discharge. You face trial.”
In a brief order, the court said, “We are not inclined to interfere with the high court order. As recording of our views will only affect the trial, we refrain from doing so. Appeals dismissed.”
The special CBI court had in March discharged Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and others accused in the case. The trial court had allowed the petitions filed by the Maran brothers and others seeking their discharge, holding that there was no prima facie case against them.
In 2013, the CBI had accused Dayanidhi of misusing his office and installing a virtual private telephone exchange at his residence in Chennai, which was used for business deals involving elder brot-her Kalanithi’s enterprise, Sun Network.