News of the CBI conducting a “preliminary investigation” into corruption allegations against the Union Textiles Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, sent stocks of the Sun Group's Sun TV and SpiceJet, owned by his brother, into a free fall on Thursday even as its rival Raj TV rose on the bourses.
An AFP report during the day quoted CBI spokesperson, Ms Dharini Mishra, as saying that the agency would conduct a preliminary investigation to see if there is evidence of any conspiracy or any rules flouted by Mr Dayanidhi Maran in the grant of licences to telecom operator, Aircel, when he was Union Telecom Minister in 2006.
The stock of Sun TV, majority owned by Mr Kalanidhi Maran, plummeted 31 per cent during the day to touch a 52-week low of Rs 260.10 before recovering to close at Rs 272.55, a fall of 28 per cent. The other listed stock of the Sun Group, SpiceJet, fell by 19 per cent to its yearly low of Rs 33.50 before recovering marginally to close at Rs 34.50, a drop of 16 per cent for the day. The Raj TV stock rose 7.5 per cent to close at Rs 53.80.
The sharp fall in Sun TV could put Mr Kalanidhi Maran in a tight spot on margin commitments as he has pledged close to 18 per cent of his stake in the company with financiers. The last pledging of 25 lakh shares was reported on May 12, when the Sun TV stock was quoting around Rs 400. He owns 77 per cent stake in the company.
According to market participants, fresh short positions were accumulated in Sun TV in the futures segment. The open interest of Sun TV June futures jumped by over 330 per cent even as the stock crashed. Open interest is the total number of contracts that are not closed or delivered.
Mr Dayanidhi Maran has denied the allegations saying that “only companies fulfilling all the required conditions were given Letters of Intent in their own turn”.
Court dismisses applications
Meanwhile, the Special Court hearing the 2G case on Thursday dismissed two applications — one praying that Mr Anil Ambani, the Reliance ADAG Chairman, and Mrs Dayalu Ammal, a wife of Mr M. Karunanidhi, DMK chief, be made accused in the case and another seeking directions to the CBI to further probe the role of Tata Group Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, and corporate lobbyist, Ms Niira Radia, in the 2G scam.
The Special Judge (CBI), Mr O. P. Saini said, “The applications are not only devoid of any substance but are also contrary to law and deserve to be dismissed with heavy cost as application after application of this nature are being filed by third parties resulting into loss of precious time of the court.”
Observing that the applications were not supported by any new material, the court said, “cognisance of the police case has already been taken and no further investigation can be ordered by the court at the instance of third parties who are not even remotely connected with the issue.”
The applications were filed by a Delhi-based journalist, Mr M. Furquan, and a Ghaziabad-based scrap dealer, Mr Dharmender Pandey.