Refusing to grant any relief to Satyendar Jain a Delhi court on Thursday extended the ED custody of the Delhi minister till June 13 in a money laundering case. The probe agency had sought extension of Jain’s remand by five days after the recovery of Rs 2.82 crore and 133 gold coins during raids at his premises.
Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 13 with the agency alleging that he was involved in hawala transactions with a Kolkata-based firm in 2015-16.
The arrest led to a political storm between the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. The opposition party in Delhi accused AAP convenor and CM Arvind Kejriwal of shielding the corrupt whereas the latter termed the ED case as “completely case and politically motivated”.
The agency had said last month that assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain’s family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by him were provisionally attached as part of a money laundering probe against him. In 2018, the ED had questioned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in connection with the case.
The ED case is based on a 2017 FIR of the CBI against Jain under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI complaint had said Jain could not explain the source of funds received by four companies in which he was a shareholder. The agency 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.
It had said that Rs 4.63 crore was allegedly received through Prayas Info Solutions, Akinchan Developers, Managalyatan Projects and Indo-Metal Impex Pvt Limited in 2015-16. They had said Jain and his wife were allegedly holders of one-third of the shares in these companies during the period.
The CBI has alleged that Jain had control over these companies either as a directors or by holding one-third of the shares of these companies in his name or in the names of his family members or others.