Dayanidhi Maran delayed processing of Aircel chief's files, aides claim

Former aides of ex-Telecom inister Dayanidhi Maran have reportedly told the CBI that the processing of the files of former Aircel chief owner C Sivasankaran was delayed allegedly at the directions of the minister.

Sanjay Murthy, the then personal secretary to Maran, in his statement has reportedly told CBI that "there was delay in grant of approval" of licenses to Dishnet DSL Limited, a company of C Sivasankaran.

Sources in the agency claimed today that Murthy further told the CBI "that the directions conveyed by me for putting of files etc and recording the orders of minister was done as per the directions of Dayanidhi Maran."

He had told the agency sleuths that as the PS to the minister he was "not expected to examine the merits of the case as it was the responsibility of the department to examine and put it up to the MOC and IT".

Murthy is also said to have told CBI that Maran had met Ralph Marshall, CEO of Astro which invested in Sun TV and also a Board member of Maxis, in office between 2005 and 06, sources said.

The then OSD to Maran VAK Nambiar in his statement is also understood to have corroborated about the meeting saying that Marshall along with three to four persons had come to meet Maran in Electronic Niketan in 2005-06 on two to three occasions and stayed at a luxury hotel here, sources claimed.

Sivasankaran had alleged his applications for licences were rejected when Maran was the telecom minister in 2006, forcing him to sell his company to Maxis, whose owner is considered to be close to Maran and his brother Kalanidhi, who owns Sun TV.

Later, Maran is alleged to have granted 14 licences to Dishnet Wireless (Aircel) during his tenure as the telecom minister.

CBI is looking into investments of Maxis in Sun TV which are alleged to have been done with Astro group. Besides, it is also looking into various aspects of takeover of Aircel by Maxis group, the sources said.

The probe agency has already registered a preliminary inquiry on issues in 2G spectrum allocation between 2001-07 and is actively looking into the matter.

The preliminary inquiry was registered against "unknown persons" following a Supreme Court directive to detect any alleged anomaly in 'first-come-first-serve' during the spectrum allocation between 2001-07.

Maxis has 74 per cent stake in Aircel which has presence in 23 telecom circles -- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Assam, North East, Orissa, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, UP (West), UP (East), Maharashtra and Goa, Mumbai, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan.