New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is studying documents that could help determine whether Dayanidhi Maran misused government phone lines in Chennai when he was Telecom Minister by making them available illicitly to a TV channel owned by his brother, Kalanithi.
300 high-capacity telecom lines from the government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) were allegedly laid from Mr Maran's home in Chennai to the office of Sun TV.
The CBI says it will take two months to study the documents sent by BSNL; the investigating agency will also try to determine the losses incurred by the telecom which did not charge Sun for the ISDN lines, capable of carrying very large data.
This is the second investigation against Mr Maran by the CBI. He was forced to resign as Union Textiles Minister in July after the agency said it had evidence that he misused his office as Telecom Minister in 2006 when he deliberately delayed licenses due to Aircel. Mr Maran allegedly used this as a pressure tactic to force the then owner of Aircel to sell the company to an entrepreneur from Malaysia named T Ananda Krishnan. In return, the businessman allegedly invested 600 crores into Sun Networks.