Author: S Gurumurthy
Publication: Express Buzz
Date: June 2, 2011
URL: http://expressbuzz.com/nation/minister-steals-a-telephone-exchange-loots-bsnl/280258.html
Indeed a shocking, daring robbery. A telecom
central minister from Tamil Nadu got the BSNL to connect 323 telephone lines
to his home, not in Delhi where he had work, but in Chennai where he had none.
He got all the 323 home lines listed not in his name but in the name of the
Chief General Manager BSNL Chennai. These lines virtually constituted a telephone
exchange in the minister's home. It was exclusively used for his family business
by laying 3.4 km long secret cable along public roads to connect the lines
to the business premises. This had caused huge loss to BSNL. Who was that
enterprising minister? The infamous A Raja? No. It is the famous Dayanidhi
Maran; Raja's predecessor, now the central Textile Minister. The CBI, which
probed the fraud, wrote to the Secretary Telecom on 10.9.2007 recommending
action against Maran for the fraud.
Dayanidhi Maran was obviously not playing
marbles with 323 telephones. He got the BSNL to lay separate and exclusive
underground cable from his Boat Club home to the SUN TV office at Anna Arivalayam
in Anna Salai and fraudulently linked the 323 home lines to his brother Kalanidhi's
SUN TV network. The first 23 of the 323 lines bore numbers '243722 11' to
'24372301' and the next 300 lines bore numbers '24371500' to '24371799'. Since
the first four digits '2437' were common for all 323 lines, the lines constituted
a home telephone exchange. The Dayanidhi home exchange was operational in
the SUN TV establishment for at least months from January 2007 through the
fraudulent cable connection from Dayanidhi's Boat Club home. They were no
ordinary telephone lines, but costly ISDN lines, which could carry tons and
tons of TV news and programmes faster than satellites to any part of the world.
These lines, the CBI says in its report, are "normally used by medium
to large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing,
transmission of huge volume of digital data of audio and video" - precisely
the facility that SUN TV would need for its telecasting operations. For this,
the SUN TV would have paid huge cost. But it got it all free, at government's
cost.
Full text of the CBI report (JPG image)
The Maran home exchange, says the CBI, was
"programmed in such a way that no one other than the authorised BSNL
staff were aware of the existence of such an Exchange created for his [minister's]
exclusive use". It added that by linking the minister's home and SUN
TV office by the stealthy cables, "it would appear as if the lines were
used in the residence of the former minister, but actually the cables laid
facilitated SUN TV network to utilise the services of BSNL provided at his
residence". Google map shows the distance to SUN TV as 3.4 kms along
the main artery roads of the area, which were dug up to bury the illegal underground
cables from Maran home to SUN TV office! It was not one of those secret White
Collar frauds, but a crime committed in the open roads.
What could be the probable loss to the exchequer
by this fraud? On "a sample study", the CBI says, "it is learnt
that 48,72,027 units of calls have emanated from [just] one Telephone No 24371515
in the month of March 2007 alone, which is indicative of the massive multimedia
transfer in the underlying connections". Just one of the 323 lines accounted
for over 48 lakh call units in March 2007 alone - Yes almost 49 lakh call
units in one month, through one of the 323 phones! Assume that each of the
323 connections was put to use as efficiently as Marans had operated the Number
24371515; the total number of call units SUN TV would have unlawfully robbed
the BSNL during January 2007 to April 2007 [Maran resigned on May 13] could
be as high as 629.5 crore call units. With the prevailing rate of 70 paise
per call unit could the loss to BSNL be as high as `440 crore? Only a thorough
investigation can reveal the true loot. But, the story does not end here.
SUN TV's print cousin 'Dinakaran', too has got its share of the loot. Says
the CBI: "It is also learnt that similar service connections with ISDN
facilities have been provided at the office of Dinakaran, a Tamil Daily, belonging
to the group of SUN TV Network at Madurai, though specific phone numbers are
not available". But how did the CBI get to investigate the fraud and
where is its report now? It calls for a brief flash back.
Maran, a grand nephew of Karunanidhi, was
the central telecom minister from June 2004 to May 2007. Perhaps the only
Hindi knowing family member, Maran was Karunanidhi's eyes and ears in Delhi
and his connect to Sonia Gandhi. The 'young' and 'dynamic' minister was amongst
the most powerful in the UPA government of which the DMK was the most critical
partner.
Telecom Ministry sitting on CBI report for
over 44 months
Need an illustration for Maran's reach then?
Not only could he threaten Ratan Tata to part with a third of Tata DTH shares,
but he also could threaten him not to reveal that he had threatened him! But
suddenly, Maran fell from the cliff into the pit, thanks to a costly slip
by Dinakaran, a Tamil daily owned by Dayanidhi's brother Kalanidhi Maran.
On 9.5.2007, Dinakaran carried an opinion poll that had trashed Karunanidhi's
son Alagiri as non-entity in Tamil Nadu politics. Alagiri's angry supporters
burnt down the Madurai establishment of Dinakaran on the same day, snuffing
out the lives of three innocent staff. Karunanidhi sided with his son Alagiri
against his grand nephews, the Marans. Result, Dayanidhi was instantly out
of the DMK and the central ministry. It was then that the CBI probed the daring
fraud. And now back to the main story.
The CBI had recommended action against Maran
as early as in September 2007.
But the CBI letter is obviously sleeping somewhere
since then, and for the last 44 months. The CBI letter had specifically asked
the Telecom Secretary to bring the matter "to the notice of" Raja.
So the case against Maran of DMK was to be approved by Raja also of DMK.
With the 2009 elections approaching, as was
expected, warring nephews and sons of Karunanidhi patched up on December 1,
2008, with Karunanidhi saying, "my eyes grew moist and heart was content."
The CBI letter was perhaps used to make Marans fork out generous terms for
peace. After the 2009 elections, Dayanidhi, who got elected, attempted again
to make it to the Telecom Ministry, but could not.
He became the Textile Minister instead; and
he is so even now.
With the family feud subsiding, the CBI letter
against Maran began gathering dust somewhere in Telecom Ministry.
Haunted by the 2-G scam, Raja resigned in
November 2010 and Kapil Sibal took over. Sibal is sitting on the CBI report
since then.
And Maran, as Textile Minister, is sitting
in cabinet meetings along with Sibal.
And despite the CBI advice for action against
Maran sleeping for over 44 months, now Prime Minister promises to Baba Ramdev
that he would tackle corruption with "seriousness" and "without
delay", while he himself is still sitting with Maran in cabinet meetings.
It seems as much a comedy as it is a tragedy.
