CHENNAI: In the wake of grave allegations levelled by DMK MP and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran against his elder brother and Sun media group chairman Kalanithi Maran, the Sun TV Network Ltd, the public listed parent company of the group, on June 20 stated that the allegations published by various media houses were 'family matter' of the promoter and had no 'bearing' on the business of the company.
In a disclosure made to the Securities Exchange Board of India on June 19, the company said all the statements were "allegedly made in the (media) articles are incorrect, misleading, speculating, defamatory and not supported by facts or law."
"We wish to inform that all acts have been done in accordance with legal obligations and the same have been duly vetted by concerned intermediaries before the public issue of the Company," the letter sent by the firm's Company Secretary and Compliance Officer, Ravi Ramamoorthy, said.
Dayanidhi, in his legal notice sent to Kalanithi on June 10, 2025, had alleged that his brother and the others named in the notice, which included Ramamoorthy, had misled the public by providing falsified information in the Red Herring Prospectus issued when the company went public.
He had threatened to file complaints with agencies like the SEBI and the Serious Frauds Investigation Office to investigate.
The key allegation in the notice was that Kalanithi became a controlling shareholder of the company in 2003, when the brothers' father and former Union Minister Murasoli Maran was on his deathbed, by allotting 12 lakh shares to himself through means that were not 'legal'.
The company, in its statement on June 20, emphasised that the allegations stem from events that occurred 22 years ago when the company was a closely held private limited company.
"The matters alleged in the articles do not have any bearing on the business of the Company or its day-to-day functioning, and it is being a family matter of the Promoter (Kalanithi) -- is purely personal in nature," the statement said.