CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the CBI to file its response to a petition filed by former union minister and DMK leader A Raja, who challenged an order of a special court for cases against MP/MLAs refusing to direct the agency to submit certain documents in a disproportionate assets (DA) case.
Justice AD Jagadish Chandira granted two weeks’ time to the central agency to file its reply. The 2015 case pertains to allegations that Raja amassed assets worth Rs 5.53 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income during the check period between October 13, 1999, and October 30, 2010.
The CBI registered the case against Raja and others, including his counsel Paramesh Kumar, associates Krishnamurthy, N Ramesh, Vijay Satarangani; Kovai Shelters Promoters India Private Limited and Mangal Tech Park Limited.
According to the CBI, Rs 4.56 crore was given to Raja through Kovai Shelters, a company owned by his friend. The chargesheet in the case was filed in 2022. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate A Saravanan submitted that the DA case was an offshoot of the 2G spectrum case, in which Raja was acquitted.
However, the CBI in Chennai formed an opinion contrary to the stand taken by its Delhi branch regarding the case and such legal anomaly is the ground that the chargesheet in the DA case is not sustainable.
Stating that the special court refused to direct the CBI to submit the documents pertaining to Kovai Shelters under section 207 of CrPC, the counsel said this will cause grave prejudice to Raja and prayed for the high court to set aside the order of the special court.