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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a fresh first information report (FIR) against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, as well as two BSNL officials, for the allotment of 300 high-speed telephone lines to Maran’s residence in Chennai.
The CBI has also found the phone connections were extended to the office of Sun TV, the channel of Dayanidhi Maran’s brother Kalanithi Maran. The phone lines were registered in the name of a BSNL official; these were linked to Maran’s boathouse residence and then, to the Sun TV office. In the FIR, the agency has named K Bramhanathan and M P Veluswami, two former chief general managers of BSNL, for misuse of official positions.
A CBI probe revealed the ISDN lines were used by Sun TV for video conferencing and transmitting voluminous data and news content across the globe. In 2011, the CBI had registered a preliminary probe into the BSNL issue. The agency had also referred the matter to the telecom secretary, but no action was taken.
The latest FIR comes just a few days before the CBI is expected to file a status report in the Supreme Court about its probe into the Aircel-Maxis deal, in which the Maran brothers are the prime accused. In October 2011, the CBI had registered a case against the brothers, along with Malaysian business tycoon and Maxis owner T Ananda Krishnan and Maxis director Ralph Marshall. It had also named Sun Direct, Astro All Asia Networks UK and Maxis, along with some a few officials, as co-accused.
