CNN-News18
First published: February 2, 2017, 5:06 PM IST | Updated: 7 mins ago
File photo of former Telecom Minister Dayandhi Maran.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday exonerated all the accused in the Airtel-Maxis case including the Maran brothers dealing a heavy blow to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate that has been probing the politically significant case for years.
Here’s a look at the Aircel-Maxis Case:
The Aircel-Maxis controversy has its roots in the infamous 2G spectrum scam.
The SC had asked the CBI to investigate Dayanidhi Maran who was the telecom minister before A Raja.
Maran had to resign from the Union Cabinet in April 2011.
Aircel is a telecom company owned by C Sivasankaran.
Maxis is a Malaysian company owned by t Ananda Krishnan.
In 2006, Maxis acquired Aircel by buying 74% stake.
In April 2011, Sivasankaran complained to the CBI that Maran had arm twisted hi to sell his stake to Maxis.
In October 2011, the CBI filed an FIR against Maran that alleged that he received Rs 549 crore for favouring Aircel in various deals that were owned by maxis.
The amount was allegedly received by a company owned by Dayanidhi Maran’s brother, Kalanidhi Maran, who controls the Sun TV network.
The CBI FIR accuses the Maran brothers of quid pro quo for facilitating the deal for maxis.
According to the FIR, the media company Astro — belonging to the maxis group — had invested around Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) in a Sun Network venture in 2007.