Satyendar Jain’s ED custody got extended by 14 days, bail hearing scheduled for tomorrow
*Paromita Das
Satyendar Jain, the Delhi Health Minister, was placed in judicial custody for 14 days on Monday by a Delhi court. The hearing on the Delhi minister’s bail application will take place tomorrow.
Satyendar Jain, a Delhi state minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader, was sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody by the Rouse Avenue court in a money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. Jain has been in the agency’s custody for the last 14 days after his remand was extended by five days on June 9. He was on the ninth day of his ED detention at the time. After leaving the court, Jain’s lawyers told the media that they would be filing a bail application before a special CBI judge on Tuesday, June 14.
Jain was arrested by the ED on May 30 while under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case. In the Delhi government, he currently holds the portfolios of health, home, power, public works, industries, urban development, flood, irrigation, and water.
The money laundering case is based on a FIR filed by the CBI in 2017 against the minister and other individuals. It was claimed that from February 2015 to May 2017, the minister amassed assets that were disproportionate to his known sources of income. In December 2018, the CBI filed a charge sheet against Jain and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case against Jain and others, the ED attached properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to five companies and others last month.
During the last hearing on Thursday, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who was representing the agency, told the court, “Following the remand, raids were conducted on the eight premises of the Lala Sher Singh memorial trust, of which Jain and his wife are members. The trust contained incriminating material in the form of cash, documents, and so on. The material must be presented to Jain by the agency.”
During 2015-16, when Jain was a public servant, the accused companies “beneficially owned and controlled by him” received funds worth Rs.4.81 crore from shell companies in exchange for cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators via a ‘hawala’ route, according to the agency. Jain has denied all charges and stated that the ED, even in the CBI case, has been unable to identify any source of income. According to Jain’s counsel, there is no evidence that money from him went to Hawala.
Last week, on Tuesday, the agency announced that over Rs 2 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg were seized as part of the investigation into Jain and his alleged associates. “Various incriminating documents and digital records were seized during the search. The cash amounting to Rs 2.85 crore and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg were discovered hidden in the said premises and were seized under the PMLA “In a statement, ED stated.
According to the ED, those raided were “either directly or indirectly assisted” in the process of money laundering by the minister. The cash and coins were “unexplained” and kept in a “secret” location, according to the statement. Geetanjali Goel, a Special Judge under the PC Act, is hearing the case.
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