The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday vehemently opposed petitions filed by former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his elder brother Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV Network and three others before the Madras High Court to quash charges framed against them by a lower court on August 30 in the illegal telephone exchange case.
Appearing before Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira, Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan contended that permitting their present plea would amount to reviewing the July 25 order of Justice G. Jayachandran who had reversed the discharge of all seven accused from the case by the lower court on March 14 and directed it to frame charges against them.
Such a “review” was not permissible under Section 362 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that no court shall alter or review its judgment after signing the judgment except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error, he said. It was pointed out that the Supreme Court too had dismissed an appeal preferred by the accused challenging Mr. Justice Jayachandran’s order.
Rebutting the contentions, senior counsel Amit Desai argued that there were absolutely no materials on record to implicate Mr. Kalanithi Maran in the case. He contended that the chairman and managing director of a company could not be prosecuted on the basis of a presumption that the company benefited out of alleged misuse of telephone connections.
The judge adjourned further hearing on the batch of cases to October 10.
