Supreme Court to hear plea filed by CPIL in 2G scam case today

The Supreme Court will today hear a plea filed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) in the 2G scam case, seeking that assets belonging to former Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi should not be released in the wake of their discharge in the Aircel-Maxis case by the trial court.

Earlier, the assets which were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were ordered to be released by the trial court after it dropped charges against the Marans and others in the alleged kickback of Rs. 742 crore in the Aircel-Maxis deal, saying that their perception was not backed by concrete evidence.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, presented his case of an illegality been committed by the then finance minister P. Chidambaram in granting FIPB clearance to the Rs 3,500 crore deal in 2006.

The Patiala House Court had discharged former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran after it found insufficient evidence to prosecute them.

Maran brothers were accused by investigating agencies of helping Malaysian group Maxis to acquire Aircel in exchange for a kickback of approximately Rs. 700 crore.

The court also discharged Kalanithi's wife Kavery Kalanithi, South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) Managing Director K. Shanmugam and two companies -- SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) in two different cases.

The CBI Court on December 19, 2016 last year deferred pronouncing its orders against the Maran brothers and others to December 22.

A special 2G court had earlier on September 17 last year dismissed the applications filed by the ex-telecom minister and his brother, challenging its jurisdiction to try the Aircel-Maxis deal case in which they have been summoned as accused.

The Maran brothers challenged the jurisdiction of the special 2G court in both cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that two firms, South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) and Sun Direct TV Private Ltd. (SDTPL), had received Rs. 742.58 crore as "proceeds of crime" from Mauritius-based firms and that the two firms were then allegedly controlled by Kalanithi Maran.