The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered that the Rs 223-crore worth of properties that the Enforcement Directorate had attached during the trial in the 2G spectrum case will continue to remain with the agency for now, ANI reported.

It passed the order after issuing notices to all accused in the case on appeals filed by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging the acquittal of former Union minister A Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and others. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on May 25.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in the national Capital had acquitted all the accused in December, citing lack of evidence. Earlier this week, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate had moved the High Court against verdict.

“The court while issuing notice on interim application granted status quo order with regard to attached property, this means the property remains with the ED,” Rajeev Awasthi, the advocate who is representing the Enforcement Directorate, told ANI.

A Raja said it was the statutory right of the investigating agencies to appeal the verdict and so he had anticipated it.

In December, special CBI judge OP Saini let off all 19 accused, although he imposed a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh each to ensure their presence in a higher appellate court if the verdict was challenged.

The judge had also pulled up the CBI for “misreading” the case. “There is no evidence on the record produced before the court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons,” he had said.

In February, the Centre appointed Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta the special public prosecutor in the case after dismissing advocate Anand Grover.

On March 12, the Supreme Court directed the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to complete their investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation cases and other related matters, including the Aircel-Maxis deal, in six months.