SUN TV family feud: What Dayanidhi Maran alleges in legal notice to brother Kalanithi

New Delhi: A decades-old family rift at the heart of one of India’s most powerful political-business dynasties has burst into public view, with DMK MP and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran accusing his elder brother Kalanithi Maran, Chairman and MD of the rs 24,000-crore Sun TV Network, of orchestrating a fraudulent and illegal takeover of the media empire in 2003.

As per news reports, a legal notice dated June 10, 2025, issued by Dayanidhi’s counsel K. Suresh of Law Dharma, the alleged conspiracy unfolded when their father, Murasoli Maran, a senior DMK leader and Union Minister, was critically ill. 

Dayanidhi claimed that during this vulnerable period, Kalanithi unilaterally allotted 12 lakh equity shares of Sun TV to himself at face value, without shareholder consent, board approval, or proper valuation—effectively hiking his stake from zero to 60%.

The notice, as stated in the news reports, alleged that this act not only diluted the holdings of other stakeholders, such as MK Dayalu Ammal (wife of former Tamil Nadu CM M. Karunanidhi), but also cheated the legal heirs, including Dayanidhi himself, out of their rightful shares. 

The notice characterised the act as cheating, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering, and demands a forensic audit of Sun TV’s financials and full restoration of its shareholding structure to the pre-2003 status.

Quoting the legal filing, “The fraudulent practices enabled Kalanithi Maran to accumulate over Rs 6,300 crore in dividends till 2024, which were then used to fund acquisitions including SpiceJet, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sun Direct, and Sun Pictures,” the notice alleged.

Dayanidhi’s lawyers have claimed these are “proceeds of crime” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and the funds were routed through numerous bank accounts, mutual funds, and REIT investments in India and abroad—allegedly totalling over Rs 8,500 crore.

The notice also highlighted alleged misrepresentations in Sun TV’s 2006 IPO filings. A Rs 10.64 crore dividend shown as paid to Mallika Maran, their mother, was never actually disbursed, it claims. “These filings were not only misleading but deliberately concealed the internal irregularities and suspicious share transfers,” the notice said.

Dayanidhi has warned of action before multiple regulatory authorities—the SFIO, BCCI (to revoke Sunrisers Hyderabad’s franchise), and DGCA (to cancel SpiceJet’s license), raising the stakes beyond mere inheritance.

This legal drama also revisits the legacy of Sumangali Publications, the original holding company set up in 1985, with equal ownership between MK Dayalu Ammal and Mallika Maran—symbolising unity between the Karunanidhi and Maran families. Dayanidhi’s team contends that the founding vision of equal partnership was hijacked through deceit by Kalanithi after their father’s death.

Even a purported settlement of Rs 500 crore paid to their sister Anbukarasi is now being presented as part of a broader pattern of alleged hush money. The notice claims this was done to “cover tracks” and “evade accountability.”

This family feud—long whispered about within Tamil Nadu's political corridors—has erupted into a full-blown war. With Karunanidhi gone since 2018, and Murasoli Maran’s heirs now publicly at odds, the once-unified front of the DMK’s first family seems irrevocably fractured.

At the centre of it all is Kalanithi Maran, one of India’s richest media moguls, who still controls 75% of Sun TV Network, and commands a net worth of $2.9 billion, per estimates. His brother’s legal move threatens not just his reputation, but the very foundation of the Maran media empire.