Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who was examined today by CBI, was allegedly using over 770 high capacity BSNL data lines at his three residences in Chennai and Delhi.

New Delhi: Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who was examined on Wednesday by CBI, was allegedly using over 770 high capacity BSNL data lines at his three residences in Chennai and Delhi.

CBI Special Task Force officials, who questioned Maran for nearly seven hours at its headquarters, have called him again tomorrow morning, agency sources said on Wednesday.

The SMS sent seeking Maran's reaction remained unanswered and he did not take any calls.

Sources said Maran had already been questioned in connection with the case in January and October 2014, while his brother Kalanithi was examined once in September last year.

The investigation has revealed that a loss of over Rs 1.8 crore was caused to the exchequer by use of such large number of high capacity ISDN lines at Maran's Boat House Road residence in Chennai.

CBI has alleged that the lines were installed in the name of BSNL General Manager connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of the family-run Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister.

Sources said these were not ordinary telephone lines but costly ISDN, capable of carrying huge data, to facilitate faster transmission of TV news and programmes across the globe.

It was alleged that the residence was turned into a "virtual telephone exchange" to facilitate speedy transmission of programmes by Sun TV owned by Maran's brother Kalanithi, an action termed by Home Ministry as threat to national security.

The lines were also allocated to Maran's Gopalapuram residence in Chennai and another one in Delhi, they said.

Sources said the final loss figure has not been calculated yet as the probe is still underway.

In its FIR, CBI had mentioned over 320 lines but during the probe it has surfaced that the over 770 BSNL lines were installed at his three residences.

48-year-old Maran refused to speak to media after questioning.

Maran was called on Monday but did not turn up and approached the Madras High Court for interim anticipatory bail, which was granted to him yesterday.

PTI