Aircel-Maxis Politically Motivated Against Me: Dayanidhi Maran

The Patiala High Court dismissed all charges against the former Telecom Minister and his brother Kalanithi Maranan.

Ex-telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran. (Photo: Reuters)

On Thursday, the Patiala High Court dismissed all charges against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his wife Kavery, brother Kalanithi Maranan and all the other accused in the Aircel-Maxis case.

The CBI had alleged that Dayanidhi Maran, as Minister in the UPA-I government, used his influence to help Malaysian businessman TA Ananda Krishnan buy Aircel by forcing its owner Sivasankaran to part with his stake.

Dayanidhi Maran stood vindicated with the verdict delivered, after a six year long struggle to prove his innocence.

After the allegations were made, I resigned and stated I will prove my innocence. Today, I stand vindicated. I have been saying from day one that it’s a politically motivated case, and I have been the victim.

The court was hearing two different matters related to the Aircel-Maxis deal lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The brothers had been summoned in the 2G scam case as accused and told the court that the Aircel-Maxis dispute was a private matter unrelated to the scam.

The Enforcement Directorate had alleged that South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) and Sun Direct TV Private Ltd (SDTPL) had received Rs 742.58 crore as "proceeds of crime" from Mauritius-based firms and that the two firms were then allegedly under Kalanithi Maran’s control.

(With inputs from ANI, IANS)