The top court had earlier stayed the Madras High court order cancelling Dayanidhi Maran's anticipatory bail.
Dayanidhi Maran, the former telecom minister who is being investigated for corruption, is not cooperating in the investigation into the alleged telephone exchange scam and his custodial interrogation is a must, the CBI told the Supreme Court today.
In its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court today, the CBI said, "The custodial examination of Mr. Maran is required to ascertain the actual usage of these lines for the benefit of SUN TV which is in his exclusive knowledge. There is evidence of forging/tampering and manipulation of records and custodial interrogation is necessary to ascertain the modus operandi of the usage of the illegal telephone exchange, to ascertain the actual usage and consequential loss to the public exchequer."
The Supreme Court asked Mr Maran to file his reply to the CBI affidavit and adjourned the case to November 27.
The top court had earlier stayed the Madras High Court order cancelling Mr Maran's anticipatory bail.
The DMK leader has been accused by the CBI of misusing his office to illicitly construct an underground telecom exchange at his Chennai residence. The agency claims that hundreds of cables capable of transmitting large volumes of data were used by Mr Maran to benefit Sun TV, a broadcaster group owned by his brother, media mogul Kalanithi Maran. Last month, the former minister was interrogated extensively in Delhi by the CBI. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In 2007, Mr Maran was replaced as Telecom Minister by his party's A Raja, who is embroiled in another scam that accuses him of accepting kickbacks in exchange for granting out-of-turn mobile network licenses.
Mr Maran has been charged with corruption in another case linked to his term as Telecom Minister - he has been accused of refusing crucial clearances to Aircel, a telecom, till the owner agreed to sell the firm to a Malaysia-based entrepreneur who allegedly made a large investment in the Sun group in exchange.