A special court at the Madras High Court on Wednesday rejected bail to an aide of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and two others in a case related to allegations of misuse of telephones lines. Judge J Krishnamoorthy passed the order based on petitions filed by the three.

On Tuesday, the judge declined to remand the three based on an affidavit filed by the CBI seeking their custody. On January 21, the CBI arrested V Gowthaman, former additional private secretary to Maran, and two Sun TV employees for allegedly aiding and abetting the laying of BSNL telephones lines to Maran's residence here.

While seeking bail for the accused on Tuesday, a counsel representing one of them told the Judge there was no proper preliminary enquiry conducted in the matter. The CBI said there was a loss to the exchequer. However, no proper mechanism was given on how the loss was arrived at.

The counsel representing the CBI in his reply said the telephones lines were provided to Maran’s residence in violation of rules/regulations and in the absence of any express provision of law. These telecom facilities were treated under the service category and no bills were allegedly raised for them between 2004 and 2007. These connections were allegedly used by the then Minister for a TV company owned by his elder brother, he said.

The counsel said the investigation is at a crucial stage and is not yet over, and the court should reject their bail petitions. The three will now continue to be at Puzhal prison till February 4.

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