CHENNAI: The Sun TV Network Limited owned by Kalanithi Maran on Monday, in a disclosure to the stock exchanges said that the legal notice sent to the promoter and few others by his brother and DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran have been “unconditionally” and “irrevocably” withdrawn. It further said that the issues between the two stood resolved.
The disclosure has come a month after news reports emerged that the two brothers have agreed to settle the dispute amicably, following the intervention of Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president MK Stalin, who is their uncle.
Although the nature of the settlement was not made public, it reportedly involved cash transfer of several hundred crore rupees to Dayanidhi, but no shareholding in the company.
“We would like to inform you that we have now been informed by the Promoter of the Company (Kalanithi) that all the legal notices issued by the family member (Dayanidhi) to the Promoter of the Company, his relative and other unrelated individuals have been unconditionally and irrevocably withdrawn by the said family member and the issues hereby stand resolved,” the disclosure made by the company to the National Stock Exchange said.
On June 10, Dayanadhi sent a lengthy legal notice to Kalanithi, his wife Kaveri Maran and six others, making serious accusations. He alleged that Kalanithi, in collusion with others named in the notice, took over the company fraudulently through illegal transfer of shares around the demise of their father, DMK leader and former union minister Murasoli Maran, in November 2003.
He threatened to initiate criminal complaints with competent authorities, for alleged offences of cheating, conspiracy, misleading the stock exchanges, and money laundering. To avoid such action, he demanded that the shares of the entire group be reinstated to their rightful owners, which included MK Dayalu Ammal, mother of Stalin, and the legal heirs of Murasoli Maran, namely Dayanidhi, his mother Mallika, and sister Anbukarasi.
After the news of the legal notice came to light, the Sun Group informed the NSE on June 20 that the matters alleged in the news articles had no bearing on the business of the company or its day-to-day functioning and termed the issue to be a family matter of the promoter that was purely personal in nature.
It also dismissed the allegations mentioned in the news reports based on the legal notice to be incorrect, defamatory and not supported by facts.
“The issue of the legal notices and the withdrawal of such legal notices do not pertain to the business or management of the Company or its day to day functioning and being the family matter of the Promoter are purely personal in nature,” the company reiterated in its disclosure on Monday, August 11.
