Maran vs Maran: Dayanidhi threatens to shut down Sun TV channels, Sunrisers IPL team

The legal notice sent by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran to his brother Kalanidhi Maran, who heads the Sun TV group, threatens, among other things, to shut down more than 30 satellite channels, newspapers, radio channels, and several other businesses.

The Sun TV Network currently owns and operates about 37 TV channels across languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi.

Sunrisers, SpiceJet under threat?

Dayanidhi also warned that he would ask the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to cancel the franchise licence of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

SRH is a franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) based in Hyderabad. The franchise is owned by Kalanidhi. It came into being in 2013 after the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers licence was terminated by the IPL.

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He also threatened to approach the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to cancel the operational licence of the airline SpiceJet Ltd, India’s fourth-largest airline by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 4 per cent in May 2025.

It is not clear how SpiceJet’s licence can be cancelled since Kalanidhi sold his stake in the airline in January 2015 to Ajay Singh, who now controls the company.

Legal notice

The legal notice, dated June 10, alleged that Kalanidhi transferred lakhs of shares in the Chennai-based Sun TV group to himself flouting all the rules.

The notice highlighted the fact that the original parent entity, M/s. Sumangali Publications Private Limited, had only two promoters when it was incorporated in Dec 1985 – Mallika Maran, the wife of late Murasoli Maran, and MK Dayalu Ammal, the wife of late CM of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi, with both holding 50 per cent shares.

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The notice demanded the return, without delay, “the entirety of monetary benefits, dividends, assets, and all forms of income unlawfully received or appropriated by you from the year 2003 till date to Dayalu and the legal heirs of (Murasoli) Maran”.

Earlier notice

This is not Dayanidhi’s first legal notice to his brother Kalanidhi. He had sent a notice in October 2024, the response to which was “vague, without any particulars”.

After that notice, however, Kalanidhi made a payment of Rs 500 crore to his sister Anbukkarasi, who is also a legal heir of Murasoli Maran. This was an initial payment and part of a settlement.

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“These payments made to your sister, after a lapse of 21 years from the death of our father, are nothing but an attempt to suppress the truth and to silence her from revealing the illegal acts committed by you,” said the legal notice issued this month.