“No sufficient proof to frame charges against the accused”.

In a big relief to former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and the latter’s wife Kaveri Kalanithi, a special court here on Thursday freed them of bribery and money laundering charges in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

The court did not find sufficient evidence on record to frame charges against the accused persons in the two cases.

The CBI in its charge sheet had alleged that the former Minister entered into a criminal conspiracy with T. Ananda Krishnan, owner of Malaysian company Maxis, and coerced Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, owner of Aircel, to sell his total shares to the former allegedly in lieu of bribe which was paid in the form of investments by the foreign company through another company into Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd. (SDTPL) and South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) promoted by Kalanithi Maran.

The investigating agency further alleged that the then Minister had delayed approval to licences for mobile services sought by Aircel to force it to sell its shares to Maxis, and after the transfer of shares to Maxis, Mr. Maran gave approval for the licences smoothly.