Sun TV Network, Maran brothers & an old feud. How Dayanidhi-Kalanithi clash was waiting to spill over

The Print

4 hours ago

In his 10 June notice, Dayanidhi alleged that Kalanithi, the Sun TV Chairman and Managing Director, did not hold any share in the company until 15 September 2003.Their father and former Union minister Murasoli Maran, according to notice, was in coma and on life support from late 2002 until his death in November 2003.
The dispute centers around the allotment and transfer of shares following the death of their father Murasoli Maran on 23 November 2003.
Chennai: A simmering feud within the influential Maran family, proprietors of the Sun TV Network, has come to the fore again after former Union Minister and DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran sent a legal notice to his elder brother Kalanithi Maran alleging 'fraudulent share transactions' that 'unlawfully transferred control' of the media empire since 2003.
'The fraudulent transactions took place during this period,' a source privy to the legal notice told ThePrint. 'It was on 15 September 2003, shortly after Murasoli Maran was brought back to Chennai from the US, Kalanithi allotted himself 12 lakh shares in the then Sun TV Private Limited at a face value of Rs 10 each. At the time, each share was valued between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 with the company's reserves, surplus exceeding Rs 252 crore.'
The allotments, the legal notice mentions, were made without board or shareholders approval, giving 60 percent of the shares to Kalanithi, reducing the stakes of the original promoter.
'The fair market value of these shares is estimated to exceed Rs 3,500 crore, but Kalanithi allegedly paid only Rs 1.2 crore,' Dayanidhi alleged in his legal notice as per the sources privy to the notice.
The legal notice was served on seven individuals including Kalanithi Maran, and his wife Kaveri Maran.
Although there have been tensions between Dayanidhi and Kalanithi for more than two decades, sources close to the family say that the rift has come to the fore in the absence of the senior family members such as Murasoli Maran and Murasoli Selvam.
A source close to the family revealed that Murasoli Selvam, their uncle and Karunanidhi's son-in-law, and Murasoli Maran had previously brokered peace. 'Now, with both elders no more, the lack of their moderating influence has allowed the rift to escalate,' the source told ThePrint.
It is not the first time that Dayanidhi has sent a legal notice to his elder brother Kalanithi. On 7 October 2024, three days before the death of Murasoli Selvam, Dayanidhi sent the first notice to Kalanithi.
'When Murasoli Selvam learnt about it, he called Anbu (Dayanidhi Maran) and warned him for taking the family dispute to public. He also asked the brothers not to spoil the name of former chief minister M.Karunanidhi and the DMK's first family,' the source told ThePrint.
Kalanithi is lovingly called 'Pugazh' (meaning fame) and Dayanidhi as 'Anbu' (Love) within the family circles, the family friend said. Kalanithi and Dayanidhi Maran are the grandnephews of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi.
Their father Murasoli Maran was a former Union Minister and former editor of DMK's mouthpiece 'Murasoli'. Later, Murasoli's younger brother Murasoli Selvam had taken over as the editor of the DMK mouthpiece. While Murasoli was married to Mallika, Selvam was married to Karunanidhi's daughter Selvi.
Kalanithi had paid Rs 500 crore to sister Anbukarasi after he was served the first notice, according to the source.
ThePrint reached Kalanithi and Dayanidhi Maran over phone for comments, but they were unavailable. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
Meanwhile, the Sun TV Network Limited wrote to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on 20 June that the alleged matter dates back to 22 years when the company was a closely held private limited company. 'All the acts have been done in accordance with legal obligations and the same had been duly vetted by concerned intermediaries before the public issue of the company,' it added.
The allegations
According to Dayanidhi's legal notice, the shareholding of Sun TV Private Limited was equally divided between two promoter families of Murasoli Maran and M. Karunanidhi. The DMK first family primarily held 50 percent of the shares through Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal.
In his legal notice, Dayanidhi claimed that Kalanithi overnight got a 60 percent stake in the company after he allotted himself about 12 lakh shares in September 2003. This act reduced Murasoli Maran and Dayalu Amma's stake to 20 percent each, he adds.
He also alleged that shares held by family-owned entities like Kungumam Publication, Kungumam Nidhi and Kal Investments, totaling about 2.85 lakh shares in Sun TV were also allegedly transferred to Kalanithi at Rs 10 each, consolidating his control further.
Dayalu Ammal relinquished her shares in Sun TV on 28 October 2005, according to the legal notice.
Dayanidhi further alleged that his elder brother bought 20 percent of the stake for just Rs 100 crore. Kalanithi purchased shares of Dayalu Ammal at Rs 3,173.04 per share, which was far below their fair market value, he claimed.
While Kalanithi holds 75 percent of the Sun TV Network shares, Dayanidhi reportedly holds less than 20 percent.
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Past controversies
Back in 2007, the Maran brothers had a rift with the DMK's first family after a survey was published in Dinakaran, a Tamil daily newspaper, that 70 percent of the respondents preferred M.K.Stalin as the DMK's successor over Karunanidhi's elder son M.K.Alagiri.
That report led to Alagiri's supporters attacking Dinakaran's office in Madurai and setting it ablaze. Three people were killed in the episode.
Not only did Karunanidhi publicly criticise Dayanidhi Maran for using the media to create divisions within the DMK, he and the family distanced themselves from the Marans. The DMK went ahead with launching its own television channels, including Kalaignar TV (entertainment channel), Kalaignar Seidhigal (news channel), to bypass Sun TV, which was until then seen as a DMK mouthpiece.
Karunanidhi went to the extent of bringing the Government Cable TV distribution system to stop the monopoly of the Maran brothers, who had been controlling the cable distribution through Sumangali Cable Vision started in 2000.
'However, it became defunct later after the Maran family reconciled with the DMK's first family. It was Murasoli Selvam, uncle of the Maran brothers, who held talks with both the families and reunited them,' the above-mentioned source told ThePrint.
From a weekly magazine to a media empire
Sun TV Network Limited started as a Sumangali Publications Private Limited on 18 December 1985. After Kalanithi returned following his higher studies abroad, he took over the family's publishing business.
In 1990, the media baron launched Poomalai, a Tamil video news magazine. Three years on, taking cue from the US television channels, Kalanithi founded Sun TV, with a three-hour Tamil programme everyday. In 1995, it became a 24 hours entertainment channel.
Within five years, Kalanithi launched Sun News, a dedicated channel for news and current affairs in May 2000, which was the first ever 24/7 Tamil news channel in Tamil Nadu. In the same year saw the launch of Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), a cable distribution company.
'After that there was no stopping Maran in building his media empire,' former DMK spokesperson K.S.Radhakrishnan, a close aide of former chief minister Karunanidhi, told ThePrint.
SCV remained a monopoly in the television cable distribution industry, which also had numerous television channels, he said.'With cable television distribution on one hand and having a bunch of television channels on the other hand, they held the fort for a long time.'
As of now, Kalanithi Maran holds at least 36 television channels, apart from a production company, FM channels and three cricket teams.
Sources in Sun TV Network shared that they hold three cricket teams, including Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 'Sunrisers Eastern Cape, a T20 franchise based in Gqeberha in South Africa, and the Northern Supercharges, based in Leeds in Yorkshire, are also held by Sun TV Network,' the source told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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