CBI concludes its enquiry into BSNL lines to Maran's residence

CBI has concluded its two-year-long preliminary enquiry into allegations that over 300 telephone lines were allotted to the residence of DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai and illegally linked with a television channel owned by his brother Kalanithi.

The agency which had registered the enquiry into allegations in 2011 has now wrapped up its probe and a decision on whether to file an FIR or close the matter would be taken soon by the senior officers of the CBI, the sources said.

Although the agency has gathered material which indicates the potential of converting the enquiry into a regular case, a final decision would be taken after consulting the legal department and senior officers, they said.

These 323 residential lines were allegedly in the name of BSNL General Manager connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with office of Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister, the sources said.

The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a 'virtual' telephone exchange was set-up at the then Telecom Minister's for facilitating data transfer from Sun TV.

The agency had recommended action to the then Telecom Secretary in 2007 but the department allegedly did not give its nod in the case, they said.

Finally, CBI had filed a preliminary inquiry in the case in 2011, they said.

The sources said these lines were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge data thus facilitating faster transmission of TV news and programmes across the globe.

CBI in its report to the Telecom Secretary had alleged that these lines were for use of large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or transmission of huge volume of digital data for which heavy fee is charged but Sun TV got it for free.