Apart from the Marans, the two others who have been named in the FIR are TA Krishnan and Ralph Marshal. The CBI had said that after Aircel was sold to the Maxis Group, investments were made by the Malaysian firm in the family business of Marans.
Following the FIR, the investigative agency raided the residences and offices of the Marans in Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi is the promoter of the Sun TV network.
As per reports, Dayanidhi has been booked for various offences including showing "undue favour" shown to Aircel.
At the centre of the probe is a statement by Aircel founder C Sivasankaran, recorded in June by the CBI. According to the statement, he was coerced by Dayanidhi Maran—when he was the telecom minister (2004-2007)—to sell out to Maxis. Maxis had paid $800 million for the deal.
The CBI is trying to find out if there was a case of quid pro quo involved. Importantly, Aircel, which denied a pan-India telecom licence earlier, was able to enter all circles after the Maxis takeover, Sivasankaran alleged.
Moreover, the CBI has also probed, Astro’s, a T Ananda Krishnan company, $160-million investment in Sun Direct for a 20 percent stake. Ralph Marshall is the CEO of Astro.
Last year, Astro had raised its stake in Sun Direct to 35 percent. Sun Direct is the direct-to-home arm of the Sun group, owned by Kalanidhi Maran.
Maran was the Telecom Minister between May 2004 and May 2007. He was forced to resign as the Union Textiles Minister in July this year after CBI said it was investigating a complaint against him filed by Sivasankaran.
The CBI has also asked the tele communication department to provide them with technical details of the alleged set-up connecting Sun TV office and Maran's residence.
According to the agency sources, 323 residential lines were in the name of BSNL general manager allegedly connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during Maran's tenure as Telecom Minister.
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