Dayanidhi Maran alleged his brother took control of Sun TV while their father was in a coma, then withdrew the notice two months later

Murasoli Maran, a nephew of DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, died in 2003 after a long illness. His elder son, Kalanithi, built Sun TV Network; by 2025 he held 75% of it and Forbes put his worth at $2.9 billion. On 10 June 2025 his younger brother, Dayanidhi, a DMK member of Parliament, sent him a 46-page legal notice. It alleged that in 2003, while their father was in a coma, Kalanithi allotted himself 12 lakh shares at Rs 10 each, for Rs 1.2 crore, without valuation or shareholder consent, taking 60% control and cutting the Maran and Karunanidhi families from 50% each to 20% each. It alleged that 95,000 shares in the father's name went to their mother, Mallika, without a legal heir certificate and were later sold to Kalanithi at face value. It demanded that holdings be restored as of 15 September 2003 and threatened complaints to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Sun TV told the stock exchanges on 20 June 2025 that the allegations were incorrect and that the transactions had been legally vetted before the listing. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Karunanidhi's son, brought in K. Veeramani and N. Ram to mediate. On 11 August 2025 Sun TV told the exchanges that all the notices had been unconditionally and irrevocably withdrawn. The Indian Express reported, citing unnamed sources, that Dayanidhi was to receive about Rs 800 crore in cash and nearly an acre of land^†. In that August 2025 filing Kalanithi was still Sun TV's promoter.