Investigators from the CBI on Monday searched the premises of former IT & communications minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother, Mr Kalanithi Maran, chief of Sun Network, in Chennai.
The searches were conducted at their bungalows at the posh Boat Club and the Sun TV office in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal that dragged Mr Dayanidhi Maran into trouble, forcing him to resign as textiles minister from the current Union Cabinet. Sources said the CBI sleuths also questioned Ms Suneeta Reddy, executive director of Apollo Hospitals, who holds stake in Aircel, and conducted searches at her residences and offices.
Sun Pictures, owned by the Maran family, is being probed by the Tamil Nadu crime branch CID in connection with a number of cheating cases filed against its COO. The CBI registered a case against Mr Dayanidhi Maran on Sunday in connection with the Aircel-Maxis deal and booked Mr Kalanithi Maran, Maxis owner T. Ananda Krishnan, senior executive Ralph Marshall and three companies — Astro, Maxis and Sun TV — on charges of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. After registering the case, the agency carried out searches at the residential and official premises of all accused persons at nine places in Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. All the accused will be called for questioning, sources said.
CBI sources claimed that quid pro quo on the part of the then telecom minister has been established during the probe and that the probe has also revealed that files (related to spectrum allocation) of former Aircel chief C. Sivas-ankaran were deliberately delayed during Mr Maran’s tenure.
Sources said the CBI might have also used the opportunity to verify the allegation that BSNL was forced to set up a telephone exchange connecting the Sun TV office and Mr Dayanidhi Maran’s Chennai residence through dedicated underground cables when he was IT & communications minister. CBI officials and a BSNL official went up to the terrace of Mr Maran’s residence in Chennai and checked a communication tower there.