HC cancels Maran's bail; rejects political vendetta charge

The Madras High Court today cancelled former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran's interim anticipatory bail in the controversial telephone exchange case and directed him to surrender before the CBI within three days while rejecting his charges of political vendetta.
In a 49-page order, Justice Vaidhyanthan held that "prima facie" Maran had "misused" his office by obtaining telephone connections "illegally" and allegations against him were backed by material.
"After evaluating the entire available material against the petitioner, I find prima facie the exact role of the petitioner being the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology in misusing his office for his wrongful gain by obtaining telephone connections illegally in the name of BSNL officials under "service category", he said.

The judge granted three days for Maran to surrender before CBI before 4.30 pm on August 13.
He rejected the argument that Maran had been falsely implicated in the case due to political vendetta and that the accusations have been made with the object of injuring and humiliating the former minister by arresting him.
"This contention, in my opinion, is not reasonable and acceptable one," the judge said allowing the CBI plea for cancellation of the interim anticipatory bail.

"...I do not find any frivolity in the prosecution. Allegations which were attributed to Maran are corroborated by the material and circumstances on record," the judge said.

He was passing the order after hearing arguments on the CBI plea for cancellation of Maran's interim anticipatory bail and also on the former DMK minister's petition that the interim bail may be made a permanent one.
CBI has registered an FIR against Maran and others alleging that more than 300 high-speed telephone lines were provided at his residence here and extended to his brother Kalanithi Maran's SUN TV channel to enable its uplinking when Dayanidhi Maran was Telecom Minister from 2004-07.
Apprehending arrest in the case, Maran had moved the court and Justice R Subbiah had on June 30 granted him anticipatory bail for six weeks subject to the condition that he appears before CBI on July 1 and cooperates in the investigation.

CBI later moved the high court seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail on the ground that he was not cooperating in the investigation.
In his order, the judge rejected Maran's contention that CBI was seeking cancellation of his interim bail only to humiliate him.