Dial M for Maran. J for jail
Dayanidhi Maran is within kissing distance of turning into an inmate at Delhi's Tihar Jail. With the Madras High Court cancelling the former Union telecom minister's anticipatory bail, Maran has three days to surrender before the CBI in the illegal telephone exchange case. The CBI alleges that Maran abused his official position as telecom minister between June 2004 and 2007 to ensure benefits for his brother, Kalanithi Maran's Sun TV network. He allegedly gave instructions to senior Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) officials and took 323 phone connections, four leased circuit and 19 postpaid mobile connections as service connections and all of them were installed at his Boat Club residence in Chennai and caused a loss of Rs 1.20 crore to BSNL.
The CBI claims Maran, during his questioning, was "evasive". Maran has the next 72 hours to approach the Supreme Court and secure anticipatory bail in the case. But any reprieve, he knows, will at best be temporary. He clearly has not been able to convince the sleuths that he did not do anything wrong and that whatever was provided to him was his privilege as the telecom minister.
Legally, Maran is in more than a spot of bother. Politically as well, he may see no light at the end of the tunnel. The DMK has all along maintained that it is for Maran to explain what he did. Even when his two associates were arrested, Maran tried to show the party was backing him by addressing a press conference at his leader Karunanidhi's Gopalpuram residence. He bristled when I asked him that day if his leader was steadfast in his support, by asking me what exactly I was trying to imply.
But Maran, being the consummate politician he is, realises that if he goes in, he will be nothing more than a liability for the DMK, that is trying every trick in the book to get back to power next year. If it wants to harp on Jayalalithaa facing trial in the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case, it cannot be seen defending Maran in the same breath.
The Sun group has enough on its plate already. The ministry of home affairs has been talking of lack of security clearance to the channel and the group has been taking on the might of the government in court. Faced with mounting losses, Kalanithi Maran sold Spicejet and there are rumours doing the rounds that he may offload his stake in his Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Hyderabad Sunrisers as well.
But Maran is unlikely to go down without a fight. The brothers are known to be combative. But whether the ammunition in Dayanidhi's arsenal has enough firepower is the crucial question.
The Maran brothers and the Sun TV network have ruled the airwaves in Tamil Nadu and even south India to a large extent for more than two decades. When the Maran brothers fell out with Karunanidhi and his family in 2007, the DMK patriarch launched Kalaignar TV. But that hardly dented Sun TV's prowess. But if Maran is unable to evade an arrest, the Sun group may soon discover that the Milky Way galaxy it revelled in for all these years is threatening to turn into a black hole.