In its stinging remark, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the Central Bureau of investigations into Aircel-Maxis deal suggest that a certain nexus is responsible for delay in the probe. The alleged deal involves former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and a Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan.

The probe  "prima facie indicates a nexus", a bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan, which perused two reports filed in a sealed cover by the CBI, said.

Maran has been accused of "forcing" Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell the stake in Aircel to Malaysian firm Maxis Group, owned by Kuala Lumpur-based T Ananda Krishnan, in 2006.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan, which perused two reports filed in a sealed cover by the CBI, said, "The allegations levelled and investigations prima facie indicates a nexus."

The CBI told the court that domestic investigations into the deal were complete but the overseas probe was being delayed as the "gentleman in Malaysia" was "powerful politically".

“The gentleman in Malaysia, who is involved in the case, is powerful economically as well as politically,” CBI counsel and senior advocate KK Venugopal told the court.

While presenting CBI’s fresh status report on the alleged deal, the CBI’s request to share details of the business tycoon's financial transactions was turned down by the Malaysian government.