Chennai, Oct 10 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday conducted raids on the premises of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran after registering a case against him in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal.

The agency also booked his brother Kalanidhi Maran, Maxis owner T Ananda Krishnan, senior executive Ralph Marshall and three companies Aspro, Maxis and Sun TV.

It has been alleged by former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran that Maran as a telecom minister favoured the Maxis-Group in the takeover of his company and in return investments were made by the company through Astro network in Sun TV owned by Maran family.

The CBI, in its recent status report to the Supreme Court, had said that during Maran''s tenure there was "deliberate delay" to provide a letter of intent to Sivasankaran.

The CBI, in its 71-page status report about the 2G scam said that during 2004-07, when Maran was telecom minister, a Chennai base telecom promoter (Sivasankaran) was forced to sell the stake in Aircel to a Malaysian firm.

The CBI also said that there did seem to be "an element of coercion" in the manner in which Aircel was sold to Ananda Krishnan''s Maxis empire.

The investigating agency said a probe into all irregularities in spectrum allocation during 2001-08 will be completed within three months.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate informed the apex court that they have conducted probe in seven destinations in foreign countries and tracking the money trail could take up to 18 more months.

The CBI in its report has also questioned the propriety of corporate affairs ministry as well as others to comment on the status of relationship between Loop Telecom and Essar. (ANI)