Court rejects bail plea of accused in illegal exchange case

The CBI court here today dismissed the bail pleas by three persons arrested and remanded to judicial custody in the illegal telephone exchange case in which former Telecom Minister Dayanaidhi Maran is the prime accused.
Rejecting their bail pleas, Special Judge for CBI Cases J Krishna Moorthy in his order said "taking into consideration the stage of investigation and the nature of allegations leveled against the accused and the difficulties that would have been faced by the investigating agency in completing the probe in these type of matters in an efficient manner, it is concluded that no prima facie is made for granting bail to the accused persons".

The court had on February 5 granted permission to CBI to interrogate the officials S Kannan, the Chief technical Assistant of Sun TV, K S Ravi, Electrician and V Gouthaman, the then Additional Private Secretary to the former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, in the jail.
They were are in judicial custody in the central jail at Puzhal near here after their arrest on January 21 here in connection with alleged allotment of more than 300 high-speed telephone lines to the Maran' residence here which were extended to his brother's TV channel.
Counsel for CBI contended that if they were granted bail at this stage, it would hamper the progress of the probe and they would influence the witnesses with the help of their employers.