High drama ensued when the CBI sleuths went to the residences and offices of former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi Maran in the Boat Club area of Chennai on Monday in connection with the FIRs registered against the Maran brothers in the case related to the arm twisting of the businessman C Sivasankaran into selling his Aircel stake to Malaysia-based Maxis Group.
Heated arguments followed between the security personnel and the CBI sleuths initially at the main gates of the Marans’ bungalows. But, once the CBI people are inside the sprawling compound, the searches continued till 3 pm and when the CBI officials came out, they carried away a bag load of documents, files and CDs with them.
Though initial reports said that the Maran brothers were not at home during the raids, it was later confirmed that both of them were in their bungalows very much and the raiding teams took the signatures of DMK president M Karunanidhi’s fourth son M K Tamizharasu as a witness on the ‘mahazar’ of seizures.
The CBI said in its FIR that the Malaysia-based Maxis Group which bought Sivasankaran’s stake in the Aircel with the help of the Maran brothers, later invested in SUN’s DTH business owned by the Marans on a quid-pro-quo basis.
The CBI sleuths, before calling off the raids, called four BSNL personnel led by an assistant engineer, and found out from them how Maran had abused his official position as telecom minister between May 2004-07.
CBI raids Sunitha reddy of Apollo Group
CBI also raided the houses and offices of Sunitha Reddy owing the Apollo Hospitals at Hyderabad and Chennai simultaneously in connection with the 2G scam.
Sunitha Reddy, daughter of Dr Pratap C Reddy, founder chairman of the Apollo Hospitals, earlier said that no one in their family had any investments in the telecom sector. But it turned out in the investigations that the family had a 26 per cent stake in the Malaysian based Maxis group. She also worked as the Chairperson of the Aircel in 2005. Sunitha Reddy, however, has not been named in the FIR.
CBI raided her residences and offices in both Chennai and Hyderabad simultaneously to dig out her connections with the Maxis and involvement in the 2G scam.
CBI raids on Value Labs
CBI has also raided the residences and offices of promoters of Value Labs, Arjun Rao (CEO), Kondal Rao and Harini Rao in Road Number 62 of Jubilee Hills in addition to the offices of the Gemini TV (Sun TV) in Banjara hills in Hyderabad.
Business grapevine says that Value Labs offices are also located in Malaysia and the company could have been used as conduit for the transfer of funds that changed hands between Maxis group and the investments into Sun DTH.
The simultaneous raids on Marans, Apollo group family and the residences of the directors of the Value Labs are giving scope to speculations that the Value Labs too could have played a role in the 2G scam or in the questionable acquisition of Aircel stake by the Maxis.
Source: DeccanHerald
