After his alleged involvement in the 2G scam and leasing of telephone lines, former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran's 'role' in sanctioning of spectrum to Sun Direct is now being looked into by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The agency had sought the files from Department of Telecommunications related to spectrum allocation made to direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasters by seeking details of sanction of bandwidth.

The decision to probe the DTH broadcasters was taken after agency sleuths found that some of the telecom companies, under probe in the 2G scam, were also broadcasters of the service, official sources said.

The files pertained to Dish TV India Limited, Reliance Big TV Pvt Limited, Bharti Multi-media Limited, Bharti Business Channel Pvt Limited, Doordarshan, SunDirect TV Pvt Limited and Tata Sky Limited.

However, barring Sun Direct, all other files were returned by the CBI to the authority and sources in the know said allocation of spectrum to the Tamil Nadu-based TV channel was being looked into.

The CBI recently registered a case against Maran, his brother Kalanithi and two others besides three companies for allegedly receiving favours during the DMK leader's tenure as telecom minister.

Searches were carried out on October 10 at various places including residential premises of Maran, who resigned earlier this year as textiles minister.

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