Chairman and Managing Director of Sun Network Kalanithi Maran, who was summoned to appear before the investigation officer at the K.K. Nagar police station here on Wednesday in connection with a cheating case, has sought permission to appear on any date after July 26, police sources said.
“Advocates representing Mr. Maran have given a petition, saying that he was engaged in some pre-fixed appointments till July 26 and would cooperate with the police on any date after that. The request is being considered accordingly,” a senior police officer said.
Explaining why Mr. Maran was summoned, the official said three cases were registered against Chief Operating Officer of Sun Pictures Hansraj Saxena based on complaints lodged by film distributors and a producer. Mr. Saxena was arrested and remanded in all the cases.
“Since the quantum of money in the cheating cases is to the tune of a few crores, we need to examine Mr. Maran in his capacity as the Managing Director of the company. Such huge transactions could not have happened without his knowledge. We have called for the documents pertaining to the transactions between Sun Pictures and film distributors. The Chief Financial Officer of the firm was examined,” he said.
Ranjitha, Nithyananda complaints
Chenai Commissioner of Police J. K. Tripathy said complaints lodged by film actor Ranjitha and office-bearers of ‘Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam' and ‘Nithyananda Charitable Trust' were referred to the Central Crime Branch for investigation.
The petitioners had accused some persons associated with ‘Sun TV' of allegedly demanding money for not telecasting an obscene video.
Two journalists belonging to a Tamil publication were also named in the complaint.
According to the police sources, investigators in the Central Crime Branch had written to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka police and obtained a report on the claim made by Ranjitha that the video in which she and Swami Nithyananda were shown was morphed.
Parrying questions on the content of the report, a police official said the CID report was based on forensic analysis.
“Other charges made by the actor are being looked into. A special team has been formed to investigate the complaints,” he added.
