CHENNAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against DMK sitting Member of Parliament (Nilgiris) A Raja in a disproportionate assets case.
The CBI claims that Raja accumulated assets worth Rs 5.53 crore disproportionate to the known source of his income.
The case allegedly relates to Raja, when he was Union Minister in 2007, granting infrastructure status to a real estate firm that was planning to build a hotel in Kanchipuram.
Raja gave infrastructure status to the Gurugram-based real estate company in which payment of 4.56 crore was received in February.
The real estate firm paid the money allegedly to Kovai Shelters Promoters as a commission for the purchase of land in Kanchipuram. According to sources, the investigation by CBI found that the company belonged to C Krishnamurthy, a close aide of Raja, and also some of his relatives were directors in it.
It was alleged that Kovai Shelters Promoters brought land in the periphery of Coimbatore for developing it into stand-alone plots. But investigation revealed the company was not into any realty business and neither any plots were developed. Even the agreement which Kovai Shelters signed with the Gurugram-based real estate firm for the commission for the purchase of land was a forged one.
After the completion of the investigation in the 15-year-old case, CBI filed the chargesheet in August 2022.
Raja allegedly accumulated assets worth Rs 5.53 crore, including the payment of Rs 4.56 crore to the company in which DMK MP's close relatives were directors, which he could not satisfactorily account for, it added. The CBI has stated that the alleged assets were disproportionate to the tune of 579% of Raja's known sources of income.