Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: In a major setback to the Maran brothers, the Madras High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea against attachment of their property by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED in April attached assets worth Rs 742 crore in the name of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran in Aircel-Maxis case in which they are accused along with six others.
Following this, the Maran brothers had filed a petition in the Madras High court against attachment of property by ED.
On August 29 last year, the CBI had filed a chargesheet which contained the names of 151 prosecution witnesses and a set of 655 documents, on which it has relied upon during its probe.
The CBI had alleged in the court that Dayanidhi Maran had "pressured" and "forced" Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two subsidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006.
The Malaysian firm was favoured by Maran and granted licence within six months after the takeover of Aircel in December 2006, it had said.
In its chargesheet, the CBI had named Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran, T Ananda Krishnan, Malaysian national Augustus Ralph Marshall and four firms -- Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Maxis Communication Berhad, South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd and Astro All Asia Network PLC -- as accused in the case.
They have been chargesheeted for the offences punishable under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
With PTI Inputs
