The Supreme Court has given interim relief to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Dayanidhi Maran staying his arrest till September 14.
The apex court has also issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the matter.
The apex court had on Tuesday agreed to hear the former union telecom minister's challenge against a Madras High Court order cancelling his anticipatory bail over charges of him having an illegal telephone exchange in his house when he was in office between 2004 and 2007.
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Maran had through his lawyers approached a three-judge Bench led by Justice T.S. Thakur yesterday for immediate relief and had requested for a stay of the Madras High Court order.
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Justice Thakur had acceded to hear Maran's plea today. Maran is being represented in the case by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
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Maran has argued that the Madras High Court did not consider the legal circumstances before cancelling his bail and maintained that the order was an error in law. He argued that bail is cancelled only when there is danger of the person fleeing the country or influencing the witnesses in the case.
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Madras High Court judge Justice S. Vaidyanathan has observed that Maran was involved in "serious offences" like corruption, cheating and causing wrongful loss to the extent of crores to the public exchequer, and therefore, did not deserve special concession when a number of under trials were languishing in jails.
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Maran is facing a criminal conspiracy charge along with senior officials of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and by abusing their official positions, caused a huge financial loss and wrongful loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs. 1.78 crores.
