Maran Brothers, others acquitted in Aircel-Maxis case

Huge relief coming in for the Maran Brothers, with the special 2G court dropping all charges against those accused in the Aircel Maxis Case. The special 2G court, in effect has given a clean cheat to the Marans from the 2G taint, noting in the order, that even a prima facie case cannot be made out against the accused Maran brothers. The special 2G court, headed by OP Saini, in it's order, held that CBI has relied on misreading if official documents, to make out a case against the accused. As per the special court, CBI relied heavily on merely speculation and surmises of the complainant, C Sivasankaran. The court also held that various statements issued by witnesses are contradictory and can't be relied upon. Further the court added that no material was brought on record to suggest the the Former Telecom Minister acted with malafide intent to favour maxis. Even on the issue of illegal gratification, the court was clear that no substantial proof was provided by the CBI to prove that such payments were made to the Marans. Maran Brother had fielded a battery of legal eagles. The list of lawyers featured the likes of Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. They were supported by advocate Shikher Deep Aggarwal. The CBI had sought to slap charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy, corruption, forgery, among others on the accused. At the heart of the case, was a compliant by former Aircel Promoter C Sivasankaran to the CBI. Sivasankaran had alleged that he had been coerced by the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, into selling his stake in Aircel to Malaysian billionaire T. Ananda Krishnan owned Maxis group. The clean chit issued to the Maran Brothers by the Special 2G court is now subject to appeal. CBI, is likely to exercise it's right to appeal, and move the Supreme Court to reverse the position.