The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court it is likely to register a case against DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran soon for allegedly coercing Aircel's former owner C Sivasankaran to sell the company to Malaysia-based Maxis Group that later invested in Sun TV, media
house owned by the former minister's brother.
Presenting its latest status report into the 2G spectrum scam, senior counsel for the CBI, KK Venugopal told a bench of justice GS Singhvi and justice AK Ganguly the agency's preliminary probe had recommended registration of a case into the sale of Aircel to Maxis.
It further added that the CBI will take two to three weeks to conclude its probe into the nexus between Essar and Loop.
It has been alleged that Loop was an "alter ego" of Essar Telecom and, therefore, ineligible for the 2G licence, granted to the company during former telecom minister A Raja's tenure. The story so far
"An FIR would be registered and everyone would be included (in connection with Maran case)," Venguopal said, assuring the court on CBI's efforts to investigate the scam. He added that though the final recommendation had been made, necessary approvals were yet to be accorded for filing the case and the same would be done by September 30.
With regard to filing chargesheet against Essar-Loop, Venugopal said CBI would do so within the next two to three weeks.
The status report gave details of letter rogatories sent in connection with the probe. It further stated the final report in the case was getting delayed due to technical reasons.
The CBI is taking precautions before filing a chargesheet in wake of a law ministry opinion stating Essar and Loop were not associates. The note virtually gives a clean chit to Loop.
CBI to probe if Maran had access to 323 phone cables
