The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court Friday that it had closed in 2013 a preliminary inquiry against former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his sons in a disproportionate assets case.

Taking note of the oral submission by the agency, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the CBI to file its response within four weeks on a fresh plea filed by a Congress activist in the disproportionate assets case against Mr. Yadav.

Mr. Yadav had said the petition against him and his family was filed in 2005 and the CBI and the Income Tax Authorities did not find anything adverse.

The Samajwadi Party leader alleged in an affidavit that Congress activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi was trying to rake up an old disproportionate assets case against him and his family to malign their image during the current general elections.

Mr. Yadav, who had filed his affidavit in response to the notice issued to him on March 25, said Chaturvedi filed fresh plea for extraneous reasons and with an objective to gain political mileage “just at the time and eve of the 2019 General Elections with mala fide reasons”.

Mr. Chaturvedi has sought a direction to the CBI to place the status report on probe either before the apex court or before a magisterial court in the assets case against the three SP leaders — Mr. Yadav and his two sons, Akhilesh, also a former Chief Minister, and Prateek.

“The petition is not bona fide and has been filed for extraneous reasons and considerations to malign the reputation of Yadav and his family particularly when the petitioner is aware that respondents would be contesting in the upcoming general elections,” the affidavit claimed.

The petitioner is associated and affiliated to a political adversary and he himself contested assembly election in the past and lost, it had added.