minister by next week, if not a few days, sources said. If it happens it will inevitably render his stay in the union cabinet untenable.
The CBI will question Maran not just on the basis of his alleged wrong-doing as reported by Tehelka magazine but also on the basis of a complaint that C Shivshankaran, Chairman of the $ 4 billion Sterling Group and Siva Ventures Ltd, filed against Maran and also deposed before the agency about a fortnight ago.
Shivshankaran has accused Maran of having “forced” him to sell his stake in Aircel when Maran was the Union Telecom minister. The CBI plans to record a fuller statement of Shivshankaran in the coming days to know more about Maran’s pressure tactics on him.
Maran’s pitch was further quarried on Wednesday as senior advocate and Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee member Prashant Bhushan whose Centre for Public Interest Litigation, have helped drive ongoing criminal investigations into the 2G scam has filed an affidavit in Supreme Court in 2G case wherein he has demanded a CBI probe into the conduct of Dayanidhi Maran as during his tenure as Telecom Minister.
Bhushan also demanded CBI probe in the conduct of DMK chief Karunanidhi’s wives Dayalu Ammal and Rajathi Ammal.
Bhushan has alleged that as Telecom Minister, Maran put on hold giving licenses to Aircel as long as it was owned by Siva Group and then opened the floodgates of licenses and issued as many as 14 licenses to Aircel once it was taken over by Maxis Group. His another allegation is that Maxis Group invested a sum of Rs 599.1 crore in Sun Network owned by Maran’s family. Apart from this, Maxis also invested Rs 111.28 crore in a FM company owned by Marans. This brings the promoter of Maxis, Anatha Krishnan, also on CBI’s radar screen and the agency would be questioning him soon.