The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday charge-sheeted former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanidhi and others in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
The charge sheet, filed in the court of Special Judge O.P. Saini, charged Mr. Dayanidhi Maran with criminal conspiracy and making illegal pecuniary gain for himself in the deal.
It alleged that the former Minister entered into a criminal conspiracy with T. Ananda Krishnan, owner of the Malaysian company Maxis, and coerced C. Sivasankaran, owner of Aircel, to sell his shares to Mr. Krishnan allegedly in lieu of investments in Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd.
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Besides the Marans, the CBI has named T. Ananda Krishnan, owner of Malaysian company Maxis, Ralph Marshall, a senior executive of the Maxis Group, and four companies, including the Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd, in its charge sheet in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
The charge sheet was filed on Friday, a day after the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea by Mr. Dayanidhi Maran seeking to restrain the CBI from filing the charge sheet on the plea that the probe was “not complete.”
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Former Telecom Secretary J.S Sharma, who has since passed away, has also been mentioned as an accused in the charge sheet but he has been put in column 2 of the report meant for those who won’t be tried.
The CBI had in 2011 registered an FIR stating that C. Sivasankaran, owner of Aircel, who had sought spectrum licence, was forced to sell his company to Maxis. In March 2006, the Maxis Group bought 74 per cent stakes in Aircel.
It was further alleged that the Department of Telecom had in 2006 issued 14 Letters of Intent to Aircel and all of them were converted into licences. Thereafter, Mr. Maran’s family-owned company, Sun Direct, received substantial investment from the Maxis Group in the form of 20 per cent equity in it. The Maxis Group invested a total of Rs. 599 crore in Sun Direct between 2007 and 2009, it was alleged.