Maran telephone exchange case: HC grants bail to 3 accused

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court today granted bail to three persons arrested by CBI in connection with the illegal telephone exchange case against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

The petitioners S Kannan and K S Ravi, Chief technical Assistant and Electrician of SUN TV respectively, and V Gouthaman, the then Additional Private Secretary to Maran, approached the High Court after the CBI court twice dismissed their bail pleas since their arrest on January 21 last.

Justice P Devadoss directed Kannan and V Gowthaman to execute a personal bond for Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like sum to the satisfaction of the CBI Special Judge.

The Judge directed Ravi to execute a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and two sureties of the like amount.

The Judge also directed them to appear before the Investigation Officer at the CBI Office here daily until further orders and directed them to surrender their passport with the Special Judge for CBI cases.

If they are not holder of any passport, they should swear an affidavit, the judge said.

While granting the bail, the Judge said "in the above case the required documents have already been collected by the investigating agency and the petitioners cannot now have any access to it and they are in jail for a considerable period and their further detention as remand prisoners is unnecessary.

In the latest order, Special Judge for CBI cases J Krishnamoorthy had refused bail to the trio, now under judicial custody, saying grant of the relief to them at this stage would hamper the progress of investigation and they would influence witnesses with the help of their employers.

Maran is the prime accused in the case related to alleged allotment of more than 300 high-speed telephone lines to the former Telecom Minister's residence here which were extended to his brother's TV channel.