Aircel-Maxis case: Former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, others discharged by special court

Dayanidhi Maran and others were chargesheeted for alleged offences punishable under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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Aircel Maxis case: Former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran. (File Photo)

A special court on Thursday discharged all accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), involving former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others. However, today’s order would not have any effect on the two accused Malaysian nationals — Ralph Marshall and T Ananda Krishnan — as the court has already segregated the trial against them from that of Maran brothers and others. The order was passed by Special Judge O P Saini who is
exclusively dealing with the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases and those cases arising out of the investigation into it.

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Meanwhile, Dayanidhi Maran expressed his happiness over the judgment. “Very happy, let me absorb this news. A big moment, let us savour it,” he told news agency ANI today. Earlier, during the arguments on the framing of charge, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover had claimed that Dayanidhi had “pressurised” Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two subsidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006.

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The charge was strongly refuted by Dayanidhi.

Kalanithi Maran.

CBI had filed a charge sheet against the Maran brothers, Ralph Marshall, T Ananda Krishnan, M/s Sun Direct TV (P) Ltd, M/s Astro All Asia Networks Plc, UK, M/s Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, M/s South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd, Malaysia and then Additional Secretary (Telecom) J S Sarma, who died in 2014.

They were chargesheeted for alleged offences punishable under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In the money laundering case, ED has chargesheeted the Maran brothers, Kalanithi’s wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Besides Maran brothers, the court discharged two companies – M/s Sun Direct TV (P) Ltd (SDTPL) and M/s South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd. The ED had on April 1, 2015 attached assets, estimated at Rs 742.05 crore, held by Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Maran in connection with the Aircel Maxis deal case.

(With PTI inputs)

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