In 2006, Maxis had taken over Aircel by acquiring a 74% stake. The Aircel-Maxis deal had come under the scanner in 2011 when Aircel owner C Sivasankaran lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging he had been pressured to sell his stake to Maxis. Sivasankaran also alleged that former Union minister Dayanidhi and his industrialist brother Kalanithi received kickbacks in the form of Maxis group’s investments (through the Astro network) in Sun TV Network, which is owned by the Maran family. On October 10, the CBI registered a case. The following year, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money-laundering case against the Maran brothers for allegedly receiving illegal compensation of about Rs 5.5 billion in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
In January 2008, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) of the finance ministry had flagged a foreign direct investment (FDI) of over Rs 305 crore by three Mauritius-based companies in INX Media Pvt Ltd, then owned by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. The Income Tax department handed over the case to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which in 2010 registered a case against INX Media for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations. Around six years later, while investigating a company associated with Karti Chidambaram, ED found documents linked to INX Media. The documents indicated payments were made to Karti’s said company by INX Media at the time the finance ministry granted it FIPB approval. After this, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance, and ED lodged a money laundering case in 2018.