The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a chargesheet against former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and six others in the Aircel-Maxis deal case. The CBI action comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected former Maran’s plea to restrain the agency from filing the chargesheet. In addition to the Maran brothers, the CBI has named Kuala Lumpur-based business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, and the director of Malaysian conglomerate Maxis Ralph Marshall in the chargesheet for offences punishable under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under other relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Malaysia’s Maxis Communication Berhad, Astro All Asia Networks are the companies named in the chargesheet. The CBI filed the 72-page chargesheet before Special CBI Judge OP Saini. It contains 151 witnesses examined by the agency including a set of 655 documents. The CBI prosecutor requested the court that the agency needed more time to scan the entire set of documents. The Special CBI judge granted the request and fixed September 11 as the date to take cognisance of the chargesheet. The case relates to alleged illegal gratification of Rs 550 crore that was allegedly accepted by Kalanithi Maran as a quid pro quo in the form of share premium invested in Sun Direct TV by South Asia Entertainment Holding, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks. According to the CBI, Maran has been accused of forcing Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell the stake in Aircel to Malaysian firm Maxis Group owned by Ananda Krishnan in 2006. The CBI had earlier told the apex court that it would be filing the chargesheet against Maran by the end of August. The agency had brought to the Supreme Court’s notice that the decision to file the chargesheet was taken after the Attorney General had disagreed with opinion of the CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to drop the prosecution. It had also told the court that the chargesheet would be based on evidence collected within the country, and that the overseas probe was being delayed due to ‘non cooperation’ by the stakeholder in Malaysia. Maran, who has been examined by the CBI has denied all the allegations levelled against him and his family members.
