As the CBI is going deep into the investments made by the Malaysian based Maxis business group into the Sun DTH owned by the former communications minister Mr Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanidhi Maran, more skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboards of the 2G scam as indicated by the simultaneous CBI raids on Marans, Apollo group and the Value Labs based at Hyderabad.

It is clear that the CBI has raided the residences and offices of promoters of Value Labs, Arjun Rao (CEO), Kondal Rao and Harini Rao in Road Number 62 of Jubilee Hills in addition to the offices of the Gemini TV (Sun TV) in Banjara hills and Sunitha Reddy of the Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad.

Though the topic of CBI raids on Value Labs in Hyderabad was not reported by the media prominently in AP, the CBI searches at the residences and offices of Value Labs have exposed the possible link the company might have had with the funds transfer from Malaysia into the Marans owned Sun DTH.

It certainly may not be a coincidence that the Value Labs too has its offices at ValueLabs Sdn. Bhd. Unit 2.3, Enterprise 3A, Technology Park Malaysia, Lebuhraya Puchong - Sungai Besi, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and corporate circles feel that the company has possibly linked up with the Malaysian based Maxis group owned by T Ananda Krishanan, a close ally of the Marans in transferring funds into the Sun DTH.

The CBI FIR says that the Marans got investments of around Rs.600 Cr from the Maxis group into their Sun DTH as a quid-pro-quo for helping it acquire Sivasankaran’s stake in Aircel, a leading mobile service provider in Tamil Nadu. In this connection, CBI raids on Value Labs could be related to its role in the funds transfer into Sun DTH.

Ananda Krishanan, popularly known as AK, plans to produce TV channels which cater to the Indian market, especially Tamil Diaspora in various countries such as US and Europe and launch TV services featuring Web-based interactivity. Mr. AK has also a stake in TVB.com and the Shaw Brothers movie archives.

Born in 1938, the Malaysian based business tycoon is currently estimated to have a net worth of US$9.6 billion making him the second wealthiest in Southeast Asia behind Robert Kuok, and number 89 in the world, according to Forbes' latest annual list of wealthiest people.

One has to wait for further investigations to get the role of Value Labs in the funds transfer to Sun DTH confirmed.

Sources for the story:

Deccanherald

Hindustantimes