The Supreme Court monitoring the investigation into the 2G scam case was approached on Wednesday by the main litigant NGO, CPIL for extending the CBI investigation into the alleged role of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran in “coercing” a telecom company to offload its stakes in favour of a Malaysia-based firm in a quid-pro-quo deal by the latter with Sun TV, a company owned by Maran’s family.
Counsel for Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Prashant Bhushan, in a fresh petition moved in the apex court also sought thorough investigation into the alleged role of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supremo Karunanidhi’s two wives — Dayalu and Rajathiammal — in the 2G scam case and sought top court’s permission to place on record “one document” against each of them, reflecting on their role. Regarding the alleged role of Dayanidhi Maran, Mr Bhushan referred to “five documents” he wanted to bring on record to show how he as telecom minister in 2006 had “harassed and pressurised” telecom company Aircel’s CEO C. Sivasankaran to offload 74 per cent stakes in favour of Malaysian business tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan’s company Maxis and in return Maxis investing `599.01 crores in Sun Direct. As per the petition, Chennai-based company Aircel, owned by the Siva Group, had applied for Unified Access Service (UAS) licence from 2004 onwards to the DoT. “However, Dayanidhi Maran, as the then telecom minister, delayed the award of licence to the company by raising irrelevant issues from time to time and as on March 3, 2006, a total of 14 applications from Aircel were pending with the DoT.” “Aircel owner Sivasankaran had been writing to Maran to resolve these issues, but nothing actually moved. Feeling harassed, He was forced into selling Aircel, In March 2006, Maxis group owned by Krishnan bought 74 per sent stake in Aircel. The company got the FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) approval in May 2006,” the petition said adding DoT issued 14 Letters of Intent to Aircel (soon after it was bought by Maxis) and all of them were converted into licences in December 2006.
“Within three months, Maran’s family owned business (Sun) received substantial investment from Maxis (Aircel) Group by taking 20 per cent equity in Sun Direct. The FIPB approved this investment on March 2 and 19, 2007. Maxis Group invested a total of `599.01 crores in Sun Direct between December 2007 and December 2009,” the CPIL alleged. The NGO said Maxis invested Rs 315.71 crore on December 10, 2007, `233.30 crores between February 2008 and January 2009 and `50 crores on December 5, 2009 in Sun Direct.