A special CBI court has dropped all charges against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran in two Aircel-Maxis cases lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
However, Thursday's order would have no effect on two accused Malaysian nationals as the court has already segregated the trial against them from that of Maran brothers and others.
"This order does not impact other accused, that is, T Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshall today because they were not before this court and their cases were separated by the court by an earlier order. But they can avail the benefit of this order through appropriate proceedings," said Senior Advocate Sushil Bajaj, counsel for the Maran brothers.
Special Judge OP Saini discharged Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran, Kalanithi's wife Kavery Kalanithi, South Asia FM Ltd. (SAFL) Managing Director K Shanmugam and two companies – SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd. (SDTPL) – in two different cases.
The court was hearing two different matters related to Aircel-Maxis deal lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Origins Of The Aircel-Maxis Case
The Aircel-Maxis case relates to allegations that the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran had pressurised Chennai-based businessman C Sivasankaran to sell his stake in Aircel Ltd. to Maxis in 2006. In return, the Malaysian company invested in Kalanithi Maran's Sun Direct, the direct-to-home TV arm of his Sun TV Network Ltd.
The CBI named the Maran brothers as accused in its August 2014 chargesheet, levelling charges of criminal conspiracy, abuse of official position, and bribery. Besides the Marans, the CBI named T Ananda Krishnan, owner of the Malaysia-based Maxis Group, Ralph Marshall, senior executive of Maxis, and four companies – Sun Direct TV, Astro All Asia Networks Ltd, Maxis Communication Bhd Malaysia, and South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd. Mauritius – as accused.
The special CBI court, which was set up to hear 2G scam-related cases, took cognizance of chargesheets filed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate earlier this year. Special Judge OP Saini summoned the Maran brothers on the basis of ED's chargesheet in the money-laundering case related to the Aircel-Maxis deal.The ED had claimed that Sun Direct TV Private Ltd. and South Asia FM Ltd., both controlled by Kalanithi Maran, received Rs 742.58 crore as “proceeds of crime” from Mauritius-based firms in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
(With inputs from PTI)
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