Supreme Court sets aside Madras High Court order allowing Maran to call telecom secretary as witness

The SC was hearing an appeal by the CBI challenging the March 25, 2026, order of the Madras HC setting aside the October 10, 2025, trial court order refusing his plea.

Hearing it on August 10, the apex court had asked the CBI if it would have any objection if the Telecom Secretary is summoned as a defence witness. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the probe agency, said he would not have any objection to it.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Maran, however objected to the suggestion saying, “He is a court’s witness, which would be appropriate, as the court can put to him what is the procedure and what is the norm and come to a determination. It would be very onerous on me.”

The top court, however, went on to restore the trial court order while allowing Maran to examine the Telecom Secretary as a defence witness.

The allegations date back to 2004-2007 when Maran was the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

As per the CBI chargesheet, during this period, “Maran, in conspiracy with senior officials of BSNL and certain individuals associated with Sun TV Network such as Mr Kannan (SUN TV chief technical officer) had dishonestly procured and continued to enjoy numerous telecom facilities at his residences in Chennai and New Delhi under the BSNL service category.

According to the prosecution, “The facilities so availed were wholly impermissible for a private individual and, in any event, far exceeding the entitlement available to a Member of Parliament or Minister at the relevant time. Notwithstanding such limitation, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran is alleged to have availed a vast spectrum of telecommunications facilities, comprising hundreds of telephone lines, ISDN–PRA/BRA connections, broadband and internet leased circuits, mobile connections, optical fibre connectivity, leased lines, and video conferencing systems, many of which, were pressed into service for the operational exigencies of Sun TV Network and its allied entities.”

The prosecution further alleged that “several BSNL officials, acting in furtherance of the conspiracy, manipulated records by showing BSNL authorities as subscribers while installing the connections at private premises, thereby converting private connections into service category connections along with failing to raise bills or keep a record of subsequently cancelled bills. It is also alleged in the charge sheet that the accused persons had generated false or misleading official replies to conceal liability and thus enabled continued free usage of high-end telecom infrastructure, resulting in wrongful loss estimated at Rs 1.78 crore to the public sector telecom entities, including BSNL, MTNL and corresponding wrongful gain to private beneficiaries, particularly Sun TV Network.”