Home Ministry will not reply to Kalanithi Maran
Home Ministry clearly has no plans to reply to the letter written by Sun TV's Kalanithi Maran. One of the sources was quoted as saying, "If the Sun TV moves the court, we will tell the court. But as of now, we have no plans to write them back as we have already clarified the reasons for the denial of security clearance."
The Sun TV Network was launched on 13 April 1993 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was launched by the nephew of DMK Chief M Karunanidhi, Kalanithi Maran. Sun TV, the first channel of Sun TV network, was launched on 14 April 1993. It was the first fully privately owned TV channel in India. It was broadcasted for 4 and half hours per day.
Kalanithi Maran's Sun TV Network acquired 48.9% stake in RED FM. Remaining 51.1% stake was held by Usha Reddy and Arjun Rao who owned IT company Value Labs. The aim was to expand its radio business in the northern, western and eastern parts of the country. Sun TV's Suryan FM was to operate radio stations in the southern language states.
By 2010, Kalanithi Maran became the 17th richest Indian with a net worth of US $4 billion. He also became the highest paid businessman in India.
CEO of Sun Pictures, Hansraj Saxena was sent to jail in connection with a case filed by Selvaraj, a Salem-based film distributor. The case came into light only after AIADMK's Jayalalitha came to power in the recently held assembly elections. Jayalalitha revived Arasu cable to weaken the Sun TV cable network.
CBI filed a case alleging that Aircel owner C. Sivasankaran was forced to sell his company to Maxis (a Malaysian Communication company). It also said that Maxis group which bought 74% stake in Aircel in March 2006 had invested Rs. 742 crore in Sun Direct between 2007 and 2009.
On 29 August 2014, CBI filed a chargesheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanidhi Maran, T. Anand Krishnan (owner of Maxis), Ralph Marshall and 4 companies including Sun Direct in Aircel-Maxis case. The matter was sent to the AG (Assistant Governor) after there was a difference of opinion between the CBI director and the prosecutor regarding the filing of chargesheet.
Home ministry had denied security clearance to about 50 FM stations of Sun TV group. The Aircel-Maxis case had been sighted as one of the reasons for denial of the license. Maran had faced a similar issue in 2014, when Kal Company - a cable distribution company earned by his family was denied a license to operate. The case was taken to High Court.
Sun Network Group's chairman and managing director Kalanithi Maran had written to a letter to finance and I&B minister Arun Jaitley complaining that his company was being unjustly singled out. Maran questioned if the government was denying security only to Sun Network or others as well. He also said that all other companies were allowed to participate in auctions despite pending cases with CBI/ED.
