The Maran brothers including Dayanidhi Maran, former Union Minister for communications and information technology, have become an embarrassment to the DMK in this Lok Sabha election. The party which was having a dream run in the campaign trail towards the Lok Sabha election faced further dilemma when the widow of Sadiq Batcha, the slain business partner of former Union Minister A Raja, complained to the police that she was being targeted by a group of people. Both Dayanaidhi and Raja are DMK candidates for the April 18 Lok Sabha election.
The Madras High Court which dismissed the petition on Wednesday, filed by Dayanidhi and his elder brother Kalanidhi asking the court to quash the charges framed against them by the CBI special court in the illegal telephone exchange case, came down heavily on the grand nephews of late M Karunanidhi for the dilatory tactics, deployed by them in the threshold of framing the charges itself.
The case was that while he was holding the post of the Union Minister of communications and information technology (2004 to 2007), Dayanaidhi Maran misused his official powers and got a private telephone exchange installed at his private residence in Chennai and used the same for the commercial business of Sun TV Network, south India’s largest satellite television network owned by his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran.
According to the charge sheet by the CBI which probed the case, the private telephone exchange with high speed data transmission network had caused a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to the exchequer. The Marans, from day one of the investigation had caused hurdles in front of the probe agency, the CBI and subsequently the trial court in Chennai acquitted the Marans stating lack of sufficient evidence. When the CBI appealed against the trial court verdict, the Marans approached the apex court with a plea to quash the charge sheets against them. The Supreme Court stood its ground and asked the brothers to stand trial. This prompted the brothers to approach the High Court again pleading for the quashing of charges.
The Single as well as the Division Benches of the Madras High Court dismissed their pleas twice. When the Marans approached the High Court for a third time pleading for acquittal from the case, the court asked them on Wednesday what prevented them from facing the trial. “If the petitioners are confident enough that they have a strong case for their defence and none of the charges framed by the lower court can be sustained, they must willingly go ahead facing the trial court and get an honourable exit . In the contrary they had ensured that this case does not cross the threshold of framing of charge sheet and come up with same plea every time by giving it different form,” said Justice Anand Venkatesh while dismissing the petition.
Meanwhile, the ghost of Sadique Batcha, a business associate of former Minister A Raja has come to haunt DMK. Rehana Banu, widow of Sadiq Batcha, who was found dead under mysterious conditions in March 2011, came under stone pelting while she and her children were travelling in a car A group of unidentified persons who followed her car in bikes smashed the windshields of the car with iron rods . The incident came within days of Banu placing advertisements in newspapers on the occasion of the death anniversary of Batcha which fell on March 16. Ot was on this day in 2011 Batcha was found hanging in his house in Chennai, days before he was to appear before the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to be interrogated in connection with the 2G Spectrum case.
Rehna Banu has been provided with police security following her complaint to the authorities.