The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain in a money-laundering case. An FIR was lodged against the AAP leader in 2017 by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act where Mr. Jain was accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him.
Mr. Jain has now been taken into ED custody based on that CBI enquiry.
The ED had provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to these companies, in addition to a fifth one earlier last month.
The CBI had alleged in 2017 that Jain and his wife co-founded a company, J J Ideal Estate, and the couple had stakes in Prayas Info Solutions, Akinchan Developers, Managalyatan Projects and Indo Metal Impex, which it alleged were shell companies.
‘Investigation by the ED revealed that during the period 2015-16, when Sh. Satyendar Kumar Jain was a public servant, the above-mentioned companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the Hawala route. These amounts were utilized for direct purchase of land or for the repayment of loan taken for purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,’ the ED had said in a statement then.
The CBI complaint had said Jain could not explain the source of funds received by four companies in which he was a shareholder. It had registered a case against him, his wife and four others on charges of corruption. The CBI has also questioned him in the case earlier.
Mr. Jain had also been called in for questioning by the ED earlier. The arrest came two months later after the provisional property attachment by the ED.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted the arrest was made with an eye on the upcoming elections in Himachal Pradesh, where Mr. Jain is the AAP’s in-charge.
‘A fake case is being run against Satyendar Jain for eight years. Till now ED (Enforcement Directorate) has called many times. In between, ED stopped calling for many years as they did not get anything. Now they started again because Satyendar Jain is the election in-charge of Himachal,’ Mr. Sisodia tweeted.
‘BJP is losing badly in Himachal. That is why Satyendar Jain has been arrested today so that he cannot go to Himachal. He will be released in a few days as the case is completely fake,’ the Deputy Chief Minister said.