The Supreme on Friday allowed the CBI to question former Union Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran about his alleged involvement in the illegal telephone exchange case, but turned down the investigating agency's plea for a custodial interrogation of the DMK member, The Times of India reported.
The TOI report states, "A bench of Justices T S Thakur and V Gopala Gowda directed Maran to appear before the investigating officer who will quiz him for six days from November 30 from 11am to 5pm. It directed the DMK leader to co-operate with CBI in its probe and asked him to reply to all its queries pertaining to the scam."
Maran is alleged to have installed a 300-line telephone exchange for family-owned Sun TV Network during his tenure as telecom minister, which caused a Rs 1.78 crore loss to the public exchequer.
Appearing for Maran, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the former telecom minister's predecessors had also got the same service connection without having to get an approval for it. Singhvi also said that Maran was ready to pay the Rs 1.78 crore, adds the report.