“You should not be coming here with political vendetta’

CBI haste to arrest Maran draws SC ire

Sniffing political vendetta behind the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) hurry to arrest Dayanidhi Maran, the Supreme Court of India gave a huge relief to the former Union telecom minister staying the Madras High Court order cancelling his bail in the illegal telephone exchange case.

The court also did not give permission to the premier investigating agency to interrogate him in custody. A bench headed by justice TS Thakur gave Maran protection from arrest till September 14 by which time the CBI has to respond to his plea challenging cancellation of anticipatory bail.

“You should not be coming here with political vendetta. Are you attempting to fix him? What is the need for arrest of a man for Rs 1 crore pending phone bill. FIR was filed in 2013, why didn’t you arrest him then? Why did you wait for three full years? Is it a matter of prestige for you to arrest him? Of course nobody shall get away after causing loss to the public exchequer…but is custodial interrogation required in such cases? We do not feel so,” justice Thakur told Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi.

Need to arrest “Rs800 crore worth of public money was lost in the NHRM scam in Uttar Pradesh. But you have not made a single arrest. Here you want to arrest for Rs1 crore phone bill dues. Are you trying to get at him?” justice Thakur asked Rohatgi.

“If you are of the conclusion that phone lines were fixed as part of conspiracy, question him and the BSNL officials. What is the need of arrest,” asked the bench.

Cancelling his anticipatory bail, the Madras High Court had on Monday ordered Maran to surrender within three days to face charges of having the illegal telephone exchange in his house during his years in office between 2004 and 2007. Maran had approached the apex court with just 48 hours remaining for surrender deadline to end.