Marans fail to appear in court in illegal connections case

NEW DELHI: Former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi Maran, listed as main accused in the illegal telephone connections case, failed to appear in a CBI court here today.

Four others accused in the case appeared in the court in connection with the issuance of charge sheet copies.

CBI had on December 9, 2016, filed a charge sheet against Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi among others, for allegedly using 764 high-speed data lines at the former's residence which were used by Sun TV channel, causing a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer.

The high-end telecommunication facilities were illegally under the service category for which bills were not raised for 2004-'07.

S Kannan, the chief technical assistant of Sun TV and V Gowthaman, the then Additional Private Secretary to Dayanidhi Maran, K S Ravi, electrician of Sun TV and a BSNL official Velusamy, who were named as the other accused in the charge sheet, appeared before the judge today.

The CBI judge then adjourned the matter for June 6.