What has stopped Maran from filing defamation case against me, asks S Gurumurthy

Rubbishing allegations of former Telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran that CBI was trying to “fix” him, RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy today said the agency was only acting in accordance with an undertaking it gave in the Supreme Court. “The action was not taken by the NDA. The CBI told the Supreme Court that it would file an FIR and that is how this case has come into being,” Gurumurthy told PTI. “All this happened during 2007 and the DMK was in power as part of the UPA. My case is based on facts and I have nothing against Maran.” Tracing the origins of the case, Gurumurthy said he wrote thrice to CBI on the illegal telephone exchange and later moved the apex court. [caption id=“attachment_524232” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  S Gurumurthy. Image courtesy: http://gurumurthy.net/[/caption] “I went to Supreme Court in 2012 and in January 2014 the CBI told court it would file an FIR and at that time the UPA was in power,” he said. “I want him to be prosecuted. No doubt. I was writing to CBI and went to the Supreme Court and all this is true. It is not correct to say that NDA government started work.” Earlier today, Maran had charged that the CBI was trying to “fix” him to “please an RSS ideologue from Tamil Nadu.” “How could the question of misuse of CBI arise? he asked and added that Maran was trying to fool the media and the country by his claims. “In fact I am not happy with NDA government on this issue. The case was prolonged by six months. It should have acted the next day,” he said. “It is an open and shut case and it does not require great evidence. I am surprised the NDA did not proceed expeditiously on this issue.” Stating that there was nothing new in Maran’s allegations, Gurumurthy said the DMK leader was just repeating whatever he had said in 2011. “He said he would file a defamation suit against me. Why did not he do it. I welcomed him to do it the very next day after he said he would file suit against me.” Stating that it was an illegal telephone exchange, even according to the CBI, he said its existence was kept a secret. He alleged that 323 hi-speed telephone lines were suppressed from the main system and installed at the house of Dayanidhi Maran in the name of Chief General Manager, Chennai Telephones and by an underground cable all were linked to Sun TV. “In one month alone, on a particular number, 48 lakh units of calls had been recorded. You cannot make 48 lakh calls. It was used for data transmission and for uplinking purposes.” “No information was available with the public grievances or computer cell about the 323 ISDN lines installed at the house of Maran.” He alleged cables were laid from the house of Maran to Sun TV office surreptitiously. “These cables are still there and it cannot be destroyed. He cannot escape from law.” CBI estimated that the loss could be of Rs.100 crore and I estimated it to be Rs.484 crore. “I will watch if CBI is doing its duty as a petitioner in this case.” CBI had on Wednesday arrested V Gowthaman, then Additional Private Secretary of Dayanidhi Maran, and two others in connection with alleged allotment of more than 300 high-speed telephone lines to the former Telecom Minister’s residence in Chennai which were extended to his brother’s TV channel. CBI had named Maran and BSNL officials, including the then Chief General Manager K Bramhanathan and MP Veluswami in the FIR filed in October 2013. PTI