Disproportionate assets case against A. Raja: Madras High Court seeks CBI’s response

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (April 1, 2026) sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to a petition filed by former Union Minister A. Raja, insisting upon the submission of certain documents in a disproportionate assets registered against him, his wife M.A. Parameshwari, and others in 2015.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira granted a week’s time to CBI special public prosecutor K. Srinivasan to file the counter affidavit to the petition filed by the former Union Minister, challenging the dismissal of his similar plea by the Special Court for MP/MLA cases in Chennai on December 8, 2025.

Initially, the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch in New Delhi had registered a case against Mr. Raja and others in October 2009 regarding the allocation of 2G spectrum, during his tenure as Union Telecommunication Minister, on a first-come-first-serve basis and at allegedly undervalued prices.

Subsequently, in 2015, the CBI’s ACB in Chennai had registered a separate First Information Report (FIR) against Mr. Raja, his wife, and friends under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 for the charge of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The FIR registered on August 8, 2015, had accused the former Minister, his wife, family members and friends of having amassed disproprotionate assets to the tune of ₹27.92 crore between October 13, 1999, and September 30, 2010, when he had served as a Union Minister with different portfolios.

However, after completing the investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet before the special court only against Mr. Raja and five others in 2022. The chargesheet him of having been in possession of ₹5.53 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income during the check period.

The CBI said, the assets of the former Union Minister was only ₹2.2 lakh during the beginning of the check period in 1999 but they had grown to ₹5.90 crore in 2010. After taking into consideration his known sources of income of ₹95.57 lakh and expenses of ₹60.69 lakh during the period, the rest was considered disproportionate.

When the case was at the stage of framing of charges, Mr. Raja filed an application before the special court in 2025 accusing the CBI of not having submitted before the court all documents related to the investigation so that he could defend himself effectively when the court frames the charges against him.

Claiming to have made a representation to the CBI on August 22, 2015, urging the agency to close the FIR on several grounds, the petitioner said, the CBI had not submitted that representation, and the decision taken by it on that representation before the special court for MP/MLA cases.

Further, claiming the CBI’s ACB in Chennai had received several materials from the CBI’s ACB in New Delhi, the petitioner said, those correspondences between the two branches and other correspondences through which the agency had collected materials must also be produced before the court.

However, the special court rejected his plea stating that the non-production of the August 22, 2015, representation by the CBI may not be of significance when it comes to framing charges and that the petitioner could always produce unimpeachable documents to argue as to why charges should not be framed against him.