C Shivakumar/ Santosh Kumar
Chennai:
Former Kalaignar TV managing director and a former senior executive of
Sun Network Sharad Kumar and former Sun TV vice president
(programming) Hansraj Saxena were grilled by CBI for nearly 60 minutes
in the alleged telecom exchange scam involving former Union minister
Dayanidhi Maran.
The interrogation was conducted in a small room in the BSNL office in
Giri Road which was leased out to CBI. A section of the room was
partitioned and converted as a cabin while the another had a few
chairs and was used as a reception.
Interestingly, both Saxena and Sharad Kumar were interrogated
separately. Sharad Kumar, who had arrived from New Delhi last night,
was a bit nervous and refused to talk to reporters while Saxena was
composed.
Kumar, who was contacted by reporters after the investigation, refused
to divulge anything. “I am not going to say anything. They called me
for clarification of certain things. I have given it. I am not in a
position to talk about this,” Kumar said.
Interestingly, it was clam looking Saxena who opened up to reporters.
Interestingly, this was the third appearance of Saxena before the CBI.
“I have been called again. Investigations are going on. I am not in a
position to talk about it. Sharad and Me were questioned separately,”
said Saxena.
Saxena said that CBI has told him that he will be called again for
questioning. “I was vice-president programming of Sun Network. I had
nothing to do with the uplinking,” he said.
Saxena said that CBI should interrogate technical department about
this. “The questioning was only about this illegal exchange case and
not anything else,” he said.
The CBI case follows a series of reports by noted columnist S
Gurumurthy in Express in June 2011, which exposed former Union
Minister Dayanidhi Maran misusing his position by installing 360
heavy-duty ISDN telephone lines at his residence in Chennai and
extending it to the Sun TV office, which used the data transfer
services free of cost. The CBI has booked Dayanidhi Maran on charges
of criminal conspiracy, cheating and relevant sections of the
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The heavy-duty lines were capable of transmitting humongous amounts of
digital data like programming, movies and video conferencing, which
are generally required by medium to large-sized companies.
Interestingly, the investigation has gathered steam now, four years
after a complaint was made about the telecom exchange scam, with CBI
forming a special team to investigate the case.
The CBI officials have been camping in the city for nearly a week and
even several senior BSNL officials were interrogated. BSNL Employees
Union, which raised the issue has demanded that displinary action
should be taken against the erring officials and the dues should be
recovered.
When Express tried to contact the investigating official, he refused
to talk. A junior official said that he could not comment on the
issue. “We will be here for the next 10 days,” he said.
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