CBI chargesheets A Raja in assets case

New Delhi, October 11

The CBI has filed a chargesheet against DMK leader A Raja for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 5.53 crore during his tenure as Union minister, officials said today.

The chargesheet has been filed before a special CBI court in Chennai in which the agency has alleged that a close associate of Raja, C Krishnamurthy, had set up a company, Kovai Shelters Promoters, in January, 2007 in which a payment of Rs 4.56 crore was received in February that year from a Gurugram-based real estate company as commission for the purchase of land in Kanchipuram.

It is also alleged in the chargesheet that the payment was not for the land deal but a quid pro quo for giving the real estate firm the status of an infrastructure company by Raja during his tenure as Union minister.

In the chargesheet filed in August, the CBI had alleged that the company had not “undertaken any other real estate activity” other than the purported land deal for the real estate firm, they said, further alleging that the company had later bought agricultural land in Coimbatore. The agency alleged as minister, Raja garnered assets worth Rs 5.53 crore, including the payment of Rs 4.56 crore to the company in which Raja’s close relatives were directors, which he could not satisfactorily account for. The CBI has alleged assets were disproportionate to the tune of 579 per cent from his known sources of income, they said.