Illegal telephone case: Special court discharges former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran over CBI's lack of sufficient evidence

A special court on Thursday discharged former Union telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his elder brother Kalanithi Maran in a decade old illegal telephone case saying that Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to maintain charges against them.

Special judge Natarajan said the CBI could not produce sufficient material to establish the allegations against Dayanidhi that he got the alleged phone connections with malafide intention to use them for Sun TV. 

He said the CBI had also not offered a proper reply as to why the CD containing call records of the alleged phone connections was not furnished to the court.

The special judge also discharged five other accused, including former officials of BSNL K Brahmnathan and M P Velusamy, noting that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the charges leveled against them.