SC rejects Dayanidhi Maran's plea against CBI chargesheet in 2G scam

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday cleared the decks for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a chargesheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran by refusing to entertain his plea for a direction to the agency to defer such action on the ground that the investigation in Malaysia is not yet over.

The CBI had told the court on August 14 that it would file a chargesheet in the last week of August. Maran's lawyer Aryama Sundaram argued that according to the law, the "investigative agency could not file an incomplete chargesheet".

However, the court refused to entertain the plea saying choosing the time for filing a chargesheet was the CBI's sole prerogative. Maran withdrew the petition after the court gave him the liberty to approach it again if the CBI files an incomplete or defective chargesheet.

The DMK leader is accused of allegedly forcing Aircel owner C Sivasankaran to sell his firm to Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan in return for huge investment in 2006 in Sun TV, which is owned by the Maran family. Sundaram argued that the CBI is "proposing to file a chargesheet despite the probe in the case still going on, and once the chargesheet is placed before the trial court, there will be stigma" on Maran.

A Bench headed by Justice HL Dattu said, "We understand the repercussion. We may look into it if you say that the chargesheet filed is defective. Till such time, don't ask us to restrain the CBI from filing chargesheet. It is not permissible in law."