Chennai: The Madras High Court today rejected a plea made by Maran brothers to quash charges against them by the CBI court in the illegal telephone exchange case.
Justice A D Jagadish Chandira issued the orders after the verdict was reserved 25 October. Appearing on behalf of the former Union Telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, advocate Neeraj Kishan argued that there was no solid evidence of the illegal telephone exchange.
“There is no particular law which states that a Minister cannot have more than three telephone connections. All the accusations are made by the investigation officer only based on assumptions,” he said.
Similarly, Kalanithi Maran’s advocate said his client’s name was included in the case only because he is heading Sun Network. Advocate G Rajagopal, who appeared on behalf of the CBI, argued against quashing the plea.
Jagadish Chandira delivered the verdict after hearing the arguments of both sides.
The CBI court had, in August, framed charges and ordered trial of Dayanidhi Maran and others in the case of alleged setting up of ‘illegal’ telephone exchanges to benefit the Sun TV Network of his elder brother Kalanithi Maran during 2004-06.