CBI conducted raid at the places of Maran brothers
NEW DELHI: On Monday CBI conducted raids on the premises of the Maran brothers in Delhi and Chennai after registering a case against the former Telecom Minister in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal.
In the case on charges of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act the agency has also booked Kalanithi Maran, Maxis owner T Ananda Krishnan, senior executive Ralph Marshall and three companies, Astro, Maxis and Sun TV.
Reacting to the news, the stock opened lower at Rs 251.50, then declined further to a low of Rs 235.05, down 10.09 per cent vis-a-vis its previous close on the BSE.
A similar trend was seen on the National Stock Exchange, where after opening at Rs 254.40, the stock lost further ground and sunk to a low of Rs 221.20, down 15.86 per cent from its last close.
The stock later recouped the losses and clawed back to its previous closing level on the bourses. At 1113 hours, the stock was trading at Rs 262.15, up 0.27 per cent on the BSE, and at Rs 262.70, down 0.08 per cent on the NSE.
The dip in the counter was significant, as the broader market was trading in the positive territory. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex was trading over 207.96 points higher, while the wide-based Nifty was quoted over 46.65 points higher.
The allegation made by the former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran is that Dayanidhi Maran, the then Telecom Minister, favoured the Maxis Group in the takeover of his company and in return, investments were made by the company through the Astro network in Sun TV, owned by the Maran family.
During the Maran’s tenure there was “deliberate delay” to provide a letter of intent to Sivasankaran, CBI said in its recent status report to the Supreme Court.
