The CBI has justified in the Supreme Court its plea for cancellation of the anticipatory bail gran-ted to former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran as custodial interrogation is needed to unearth a larger conspiracy in the telephone exchange case.
On August 10, the Madras high court had cancelled bail granted to him at the CBI’s request and Mr Maran was given three days to surrender. On August 12, the Supre-me Court stayed his arrest and slammed the CBI for its move to arrest Mr Maran.
In its response to Mr Maran’s appeal against the high court order, the CBI sought cancellation of bail to Mr Maran on the ground that he was being evasive with the probe and was tampering with the evidence. It accused Mr Maran of being part of a larger conspiracy to defraud the exchequer to benefit the family-owned Sun TV network and said unless custodial interrogation was ordered, it will be difficult to unearth this conspiracy. During the resumed hearing on Monday before a bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and V. Gopala Gowda, senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi and senior counsel Shyam Divan sought time to file rejoinder to CBI’s affidavit. The attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi said the matter has to be heard in detail and the bench posted it for further hearing on October 1. Mr Maran in his appeal had contended that anticipatory bail is cancelled only when there is danger of the person fleeing the country or influencing the witnesses in the case.
In this case, he contends, neither apprehension is considered or sounded out in the high court order. He contended that the CBI had sought the cancellation of his bail only to humiliate him, though he had fully cooperated in the investigation.
