The News Minute| January 22, 2015| 3.20 pm IST
In the wake of 3 arrests in relation to the illegal telephone exchange scam, Hansraj Saxena, the former COO of Sun Pictures has said that the telephone exchange at the Maran residence existed. Saxena, one of the Sun TV employees questioned in the case by CBI, has already given his statement to the CBI in the case.
Saxena now says that one portion of the illegal telephone exchange operated out of his home on College road in Chennai.
Saxena, also a former Vice-President of programming at Sun TV in 2007 who went on to become the COO of Sun Pictures was one amongst many grilled by the CBI last year in connection to the case. Speaking to The News Minute in a telephonic conversation from Singapore he admitted that the illegal BSNL telephone exchange did exist at the Maran residence.
"The exchange was divided into three parts as I know. A portion of it was in Dayanidhi Maran's house. There was one portion at the Sun TV office and a third portion was at the residence of then Sun TV COO Sharad Kumar's house. In 2007, when Sharad had a fall out with the Marans and went ahead to start Kalaignar TV, that portion was shifted to my house. I have told the CBI this. I am in Singapore for my treatment," Saxena claims.
Sharad Kumar who was earlier a stakeholder in Gemini TV and Udaya TV, joined Kalaignar TV as 20% stakeholder in 2007.
Also the CEO of Kalaignar TV, he is accused to have been a part of the conspiracy to launder money earned as kickbacks in the 2g scam case through Kalaignar TV.
Dayanidhi Maran who had earlier addressed the media in Chennai regrading the arrests, told The News Minute that he did not want to react to Saxena's allegations.
Saxena says that Sharad has confessed about the telephone exchange to the CBI, and he followed suit.
He also said that electrician KS Ravi who was arrested by the CBI on Wednesday was the one who used to look after the exchange and handle all fixing.
Ravi was one of the three arrested by the CBI on Wednesday apart from Sun TV’s CTO S Kannan, and V Gowthaman, Dayandhi Maran’s then additional Private Secretary.
Picture- Hansraj Saxena
“Its time the Marans admit the truth,” he said.
On Dayanidhi Maran’s allegations that the three arrested by the CBI had been tortured, he said that the CBI will torture them as they will not be telling the truth.
Once described by Maran as a “disgruntled employee”, Hansraj Saxena in 2011 was arrested on charges of cheating a film distributor TS Selvaraj to the tune of Rs. 82.53 lakh. First arrested on a complaint by a Salem-based film distributor, later two more cases were lodged against him.
The telephone exchange set up at the Maran residence was alleged to consist of 323 high-speed telephone lines set up at his Boat Club residence in Chennai in order to transmit high volume data for Sun TV’s programmes.
An operation exposed by the CBI in 2007, there was no movement in the case until a report written by RSS ideologue Gurumurthy exposed the findings in 2011.