Former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the 2G Special Court’s decision to summon them in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The case is listed for preliminary hearing before a Bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowda and R. Banumathi on February 6.
One of the contentions raised by the Marans was that the special court was constituted solely for the purpose of hearing cases related to the 2G spectrum scam. The Aircel-Maxis case was not connected to the scam.
The court had in October 2014 asked the Marans and six others in the Aircel-Maxis case to be present in court on March 2, 2015.
The CBI had in August 2014 chargesheeted them, alleging the former Minister entered into a criminal conspiracy with T. Ananda Krishnan, owner of Malaysian company Maxis, and coerced Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, owner of Aircel, to sell his shares to the former, allegedly in lieu of investments by the foreign company through another company into Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Dayanidhi Maran is one of the promoters of Sun Direct.
“I have carefully gone through the copy of the FIR, charge sheet, statement of witnesses and related documents comprised in the voluminous record of the case,” Special Judge O.P. Saini observed in his two-page order. “On perusal of the record, I am satisfied that there is enough incriminating material on record to proceed against the accused. Accordingly, I take cognisance of the case.”
The other accused include Mr. Krishnan, Ralph Marshall, senior executive, Maxis Group, and four companies, including Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd. The CBI had in 2011 registered an FIR stating that Mr. Sivasankaran, who had sought spectrum licence, was allegedly forced to sell his company to Maxis.
