Now Reading: Supreme Court scraps order allowing Maran to summon telecom secretary as court witness
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Supreme Court scraps order allowing Maran to summon telecom secretary as court witness
Supreme Court scraps order allowing Maran to summon telecom secretary as court witness
The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Madras High Court order that had allowed DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran to summon the Union Telecom Secretary as a court witness in a CBI…
The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Madras High Court order that had allowed DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran to summon the Union Telecom Secretary as a court witness in a CBI case. The case involves allegations that Maran, then telecom minister in the UPA-1 government, installed illegal telephone exchanges for Sun Network's business use.
A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and Arun Palli restored the trial court's October 2023 order that had rejected Maran's plea. The court granted Maran the option to summon the secretary as a defence witness instead. The CBI had challenged the high court's March 25 order permitting Maran's original request.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Maran, had argued for the secretary to be a court witness, but the bench said it was restoring the trial court's order. The CBI alleges Maran misused his position between 2004 and 2007 to set up private exchanges at his residences.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Supreme Court's intervention keeps the CBI's trial against Dayanidhi Maran on track. A defence witness is summoned by the accused and can be cross-examined by the prosecution, whereas a court witness is neutral and can be examined by both sides. By restoring the trial court's order, the bench has effectively rejected Maran's attempt to get the Telecom Secretary's testimony classified as neutral, which would have diluted the prosecution's control over the evidence. The case, pending for over a decade, involves allegations that Maran used his ministerial office to install private exchanges linked to Sun Network, a group he co-founded. Watch for the next hearing in the trial court, likely in October 2025, where Maran's decision on whether to summon the secretary as a defence witness will determine how much of the ministry's internal record enters the evidence.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
