Former minister for telecommunications, Dayanidhi Maran who has been under the CBI scanner for his involvement in the 2G spectrum scam case, has resigned from the Union Cabinet.
The textiles minister, Maran was accused of blocking the grant of spectrum licences to Aircel from 2004-06. He allegedly arm twisted C Sivasankaran, who owned Aircel, to sell the mobile services company to Maxis. This he achieved by delaying grant of licences to Aircel as long as it was in the hands of Sivasankaran. In 2006, once Maxis acquired majority stake in the company, licence was granted to Aircel.
Apart from the probe into Maran?s involvement in blocking grant of licences to Aircel, he is also facing heat on the count that Maxis Communication, through its subsidiary Astro, has allegedly invested around Rs 6 billion in Sun DTH belonging to the Sun TV Network, which is owned by the Maran family.
