CBI knocks on Maran door

2G: Says Aircel promoter kept hanging for licences when DMK leader headed Telecom

In fresh trouble for the DMK,the CBI on Wednesday brought Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran under the Supreme Courts scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam,hinting at his role in forcing a Chennai-based telecom promoter to sell his stake in Aircel to a Malaysian firm.

The agency,which placed its 71-page fresh status report before the bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly,said that during 2004-07,when Maran was telecom minister,Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran was forced to sell his stake in the telecom company to Maxis Group,a Malaysian firm.

Reading from the status report,which was filed in a sealed cover,senior advocate K K Venugopal said Sivasankaran was not granted UAS licence for two years during Marans tenure. The gentleman had been knocking on various doors but was left with no choice but to sell his shares to a Malaysian firm, he said.

On the other hand,the Malaysian firm was granted licence within six months of taking over Aircel in December 2006,said the report. Maran was the telecom minister between February 2004 and May 2007.

In his statement to the CBI last month,Sivasankaran had said that he was left with no option other than selling his shares to Maxis.

Meanwhile,the CBI also recorded the statements of former telecom secretary Nripendra Misra and two other DoT officials last week. The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry into the grant of UAS license from 2001 to 2007,during which Misra was the telecom secretary.

According to CBI officials,Misra,in his statement,said that Maran had stalled grant of licence to Sivasankaran for more than two years. His statement was corroborated by the two DoT officials P K Mittal and R J S Kushwaha. Mittal was then senior deputy director general and Kushwaha was joint wireless advisor.

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The three officials are learnt to have provided documents which will form a part of the CBIs preliminary enquiry. The agency has also sought a report from DoT.

Earlier,an NGO,Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL),had placed documents before the apex court showing the alleged role of Maran in favouring Maxis group. The CPIL had alleged that after taking over Aircel,the Maxis Group,owned by Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan,invested heavily in the Marans Sun TV,taking over 20 per cent equity in Sun Direct.

Dont take opinions from retd judges

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took strong exception to retired judges and jurists giving their opinions on the 2G scam. Dont take these legal opinions into consideration. You reject them outright…dont consider them, the court told CBI counsel K K Venugopal,who informed that the agency had received legal opinions from retired chief justices and other jurists.