NEW DELHI, May 30: In yet another case of the political leaders being held by one or the other central government agencies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested the Delhi health minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendra Jain in connection with its money laundering probe against him and his family members.
Official Sources said the AAP leader was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a 2017 case of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in which it was alleged that he had amassed disproportionate assets.
The central anti-money laundering probe agency in April this year had attached immovable properties worth Rs. 4.81 crore belonging to companies linked to the case – Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Manglayatan Projects Pvt Ltd, J J Ideal Estate Pvt Ltd, held by Jain’s family members – Swati Jain, Sushila Jain and Indu Jain.
“Investigation by ED revealed that during the period 2015-16, when Satyendra Kumar Jain was a public servant, the above mentioned companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of ₹4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through Hawala route. These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for the repayment of loan taken for purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,” ED said in April.
CBI has already filed a charge sheet in the case in December 2018.
In January this year, AAP claimed that ED is likely to arrest Satyendra Jain ahead of Punjab assembly polls while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for using federal agencies to target political rivals.
The Aam Aadmi Party won the Punjab assembly elections earlier this year.
Reacting to Jain’s arrest, Delhi deputy chief minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said Jain was ensuring that the BJP was defeated in the upcoming Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and that is why the BJP-led Centre has unleashed ED on the senior AAP leader.
“It has been eight years since a fake case has been going on against Satyendra Jain. The ED has called him many times in these years and then for some time in between the ED stopped calling him because they could not find anything on him. But this trend has now started again because Jain is the election in-charge for AAP in Himachal Pradesh where the BJP is badly losing ground in the upcoming assembly polls,” Sisodia said. He added that the ED has arrested Jain so that he is unable to go to Himachal Pradesh for election preparation. “We expect him to be released soon because the case against him is bogus,” Sisodia said.
ED had earlier arrested the Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik while the CBI has taken into custody another former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh. Several leaders of the Trinamool Congress and members of the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal are also under the scanner of the central agencies.
(Manas Dasgupta)