Johnson Cherian.
A special CBI court in Chennai on Wednesday discharged the former Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and five others in the illegal telephone exchange case.
The Maran brothers and the others, the former Minister’s then personal secretary V.Gowthaman; former Chief General Managers of BSNL K. Brahmanathan; former Deputy General Manager of BSNL M. Velusamy; Sun TV network’s vice-president (technical) S. Kannan; and technician K.S. Ravi, appeared before the court.
CBI special judge Natarajan said: “There is no prima facie material against you. Hence you are discharged from case.”
The CBI, which alleged a loss of ₹1.78 crore to the exchequer, had invoked provisions under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
When contacted, a CBI spokesperson said, “We are yet to receive the copy of the judgment relating to the illegal telephone exchange case against the then Union Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran and others.
