GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 6th June. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted raids at the residence of Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, days after his arrest in a money laundering case.
The raids, including that at the residence of Satyendar Jain in Delhi and other locations, are being conducted as part of a “follow up” in the case, said officials.
Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he is in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till June 9.
The ED is believed to have found some new evidence and links after it interrogated Satyendar Jain and some alleged hawala operators over the last few days.
The raids were conducted to gather further details on these inputs, officials said.
Satyendar Jain is presently a minister without any portfolio in the Delhi government. More than half-a-dozen portfolios of Satyendar Jain were transferred to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on June 2.
Delhi CM Minister Arvind Kejriwal has defended Satyendar Jain as a “hardcore honest and patriot” person who was being “framed in a false case” and hoped the minister will come out clean after the ED investigation.
In April, the Enforcement Directorate (ED)had attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Satyendar Jain’s family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by him as part of the investigation.
In a statement then, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had said it issued a provisional order under the PMLA to “attach immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd., Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd., Manglayatan Projects Pvt. Ltd., J.J. Ideal Estate Pvt. Ltd., Swati Jain, wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, wife of Ajit Prasad Jain, and Indu Jain, wife of Sunil Jain.”
The inquiry found that “during 2015 and 2016, when Satyendar Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route.”
“These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for repayment of loan taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,” the ED said.
The named persons in the attachment order are associates and family members of Satyendar Jain, officials had said.
The money laundering case against AAP leader Satyendar Jain stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him and others on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.
A charge sheet was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in December 2018 stating that the alleged disproportionate assets were valued at Rs 1.47 crore, about 217 per cent more than his known sources of income, during 2015-17.
The Income Tax Department too had investigated these transactions and had issued an order attaching “benami assets” allegedly linked to Satyendar Jain.
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