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3. For the sake of convenience A1 to A4 are referred as mentioned in the charge sheet.

4. The brief facts of the case of the prosecution is as follows:

(i) Joint surprise check was conducted by P.W.1 Vice President of Tata Communications Limited, Chennai along with CBI officers and the vigilance officers of BSNL on 03.8.2000, at the premises of the 4th accused (2nd accused herein) M/s. Tele Data Networking services (p) Limited. In the said surprise check, they found that there were computers and the partition was opened and it was also found that there were telecom equipments live and functioning. There were four ISDN DRI lines from Mambalam exchange connected through Siemens make N.T. and also there was one ISDN PRI lines extended from Mambalam Exchange through RAD make HSDL Modem. They also found that instead of connecting PRI line to authorised equipment, the aforesaid line was connected to one equipment which is switch lab make, PSDN/IP voice switching gateway equipment. The aforesaid equipment was further connected to a Cisco 3600 router through a H.P make Pro curve Switch and also connected to another ISDN BRI line through which this equipment can be controlled from a remote location. Further, they found that display switch lab equipment calls were made to local PSDN numbers and in that, they received calls from foreign countries like France, U.S.A., and Canada.

15. In the instant case, the case of the prosecution is that during 1999 -2000, the original 3rd accused (1st accused herein) and absconding accused conspired together and cheated the Government of India by illegally switching over incoming international calls to subscribers of BSNL and in furtherance of the conspiracy the original 1st and 2nd accused along with the 3rd accused (1st petitioner/1st accused herein) floated the company by name M/s. Tele Data Networking Services (P) Limited (original 4th accused/2nd petitioner/2nd accused herein). Thereafter, the original 3rd accused acquired the BRI and PRI connections on 08.2.2000 from the BSNL. The Original 1st and 2nd accused (absconding accused) procured sophisticated equipments such as Switchlab make PC based ISDN PRI interface exchange with Monitor and keyboard, UB Robotics make Courier I modem, CISCO 3600 series router, HP Procurve 408 Ethernet Switch, RAD made HDSL Modem etc., and got them installed in the office of the original 4th accused company (2nd petitioner/2nd accused herein) during February 2000. After installing the same, the international calls were decompressed and connected to the local subscriber through the PRI connections comprising 30 lines. The incoming international calls are thus routed through the PRI lines and the said calls were treated only as local calls by the Mambalam exchange, which resulted in loss to the Government of India to the tune of Rs.11,80,518.30p. Thus, all the accused had committed offences under Sections 120-B, read with 420 IPC and under Section 20 read with 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act.

16. It is the further case of prosecution that the original 3rd accused (1st petitioner/1st accused herein) alone incorporated the original 4th accused company (2nd accused/2nd petitioner herein), by name, Tele Data Networking Services Pvt. Ltd., in the year 1999 along with his wife. Thereafter, his wife resigned from the post of Director and the original 1st and 2nd accused/ absconding accused were opted as Directors. Thereafter, international calls were decompressed and connected as local calls, which caused loss to the Government. P.W.1, P.W.3 and P.W.20 have clearly spoken about the surprise check conducted in the original 4th accused company, namely, Tele Data Net working Services (P) Limited, situate at C.I.T Nagar, Nandanam, Chennai. They have also spoken about the illegal switching of incoming international calls as local calls. According to them, the CISCO router installed by the accused, dials the ISDN BRI,which establishes a clear channel data link with the foreign country and through the said data link, calls were received from international locations and routed to the switch lab switching gateway equipment. Upon receiving this international incoming calls, the switch lab equipments dials the local number and switch as the international incoming calls to the local telephone numbers and due to which, switching of V.S.N.L.has been bypassed and these calls were illegally switched on by the original 4th accused/ 2nd petitioner/2nd accused herein. The equipments used for this switching have been seized and marked as M.O.1 to M.O.4.