By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai
Chennai, 13 May, (Asiantribune.com): Former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who is seeking re-election from South Chennai Lok Sabha constituency, has filed a criminal case against AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa for her charge that he had secured 323 telephone connections and used them for Sun TV network, while in office.
Dismissing the charge as "false:, he said in a statement in Chennai that Ms Jayalalithaa had made the charge during electioneering, based on "half-baked" information.
Ms Jayalalithaa, while on her poll campaign, had alleged that Mr. Maran had misused his official position, when he was the Union IT and Communications Minister, had a telephone exchange functioning at his house and had used the lines for promoting the interests of Sun TV network.
Mr. Maran had threatened to go to court and sent a legal notice. But still Ms. Jayalalithaa winding up her campaign in Chennai, again charged Mr. Maran of misusing his official facility, and not only provided more details of the accusation, but also released papers of communication between CBI and the Communications Ministry.
On May 12, Mr. Maran came to Egmore Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court with a team of advocates and filed a criminal case against Ms. Jayalalithaa. Although she was warned by a notice, she was committing the same mistake again, he said in his disposition. The magistrate posted the case for hearing on June 12.
Mr. Maran said that after he had stepped down from the Union Ministry, someone had sent a letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), levelling charges against him. The CBI had referred the same to the Telecom department, which after an inquiry, declared that there was not an iota of truth in the allegation. This was the only base for Ms Jayalalithaa's charge, he said, adding he had availed only one telephone connection while he was a Minister and had no outstanding dues as on date.
To fortify his argument, Mr. Maran produced a copy of the letter by Ms. V Meenalochiny, General Manager, Chennai Telephones, who had stated that only a telephone connection was allotted to him at his residence, when he was the Union Minister.
As an MP, Mr. Maran was eligible for 1,50,000 metered unit calls an year and out of 4,50,000 eligible metered call units for three years, Mr. Maran had used only 1,73,698 calls from December 2006 to March 2009. This showed he had not exceeded his eligible metered call units, Ms Meenalochiny said.
She made it clear that "there are no outstanding dues as on date".
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Post new comment