New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has virtually given a clean chit to former textile minister Dayanidhi Maran in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, paving the way for his possible reinstatement as a federal minister.
The CBI in its status report filed to the Supreme Court yesterday said that it has found no evidence against Maran for misuse of office during his tenure as the federal telecom minister in the past.
Maran was forced to resign as telecom minister in July this year following allegations that he coerced promoters of telecom firm Aircel to sell the company to Malaysia-based Ananda Krishnan.
The status report was filed before the two-judge bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly. The CBI, which has so far arrested 17 people including former telecom minister A. Raja and has filed two charge-sheets in the alleged Rs1.95 trillion (Dh15.6 billion) 2G spectrum allocation scam, is investigating the scam under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court.
Aircel promoter C. Sivasankaran had said that Maran refused to sanction him necessary licences to expand his network and forced him to sell his firm to Krishnan.
Once the deal was through, all licences were granted.
Krishnan thereafter invested Rs8 billion in the Sun Network owned by Maran's elder brother Kalanidhi Maran.
The CBI in its status report has also said that it intends to question former finance minister Jaswant Singh and former telecom minister Arun Shourie who served in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the past.
The CBI is investigating all deals done between 2001 and 2007 when 2G licences were granted.
Besides Raja, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi is also in custody in the case. There are also 15 others accused in this scandal.
The CBI also informed the apex court that it intends to file the third charge-sheet in the designated court on September 15 in the case.
