Centre 'admitted' in court Satyendar Jain not an ‘accused', says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said in a statement, "The Centre has itself admitted in the court that Satyendar Jain is not an 'accused'. When he is not an accused, how can they call him corrupt?"

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New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the "conspiracy" against Satyendar Jain stands exposed as he claimed the Centre had admitted in court that the AAP leader was not an 'accused'. The remarks came after some news reports claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi High Court submitted that Jain was "not an accused".

"The Centre has itself admitted in the court that Satyendar Jain is not an 'accused'. When he is not an accused, how can they call him corrupt?" a statement issued by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) quoted Kejriwal as saying.

AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh also hit out at the central government and said the BJP is envious because the Delhi government's mohalla clinics are being praised all over the world, hence they got the city health minister jailed on a "fake charge".

"Major corrupt business tycoons like Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nitin Sandesara and Yeddyurappa, Vyapam scamsters, and Eshwarappa are not prosecuted by the Modi government's ED. The BJP-ruled Centre's ED is transforming into an institution that humiliates and imprisons opposition leaders," Singh alleged in a statement.

He said the ED has itself admitted in the High Court that there is "no complaint or FIR" against Jain.

The AAP MP added that the BJP had been saying that Jain is corrupt and the ED had asked for a 10-day remand for him.

"But yesterday, in the High Court, when the case was heard, the ED said there was no FIR or a complaint against Jain. No complaint has been filed against him and yet the ministers of BJP, including Smriti Irani, called him corrupt on national television," the statement quoted Singh as saying.

Despite lower court's orders, the ED questioned Jain in the absence of a lawyer and the truth is that they "harassed" him, Singh alleged.

"Union minister Smriti Irani and the BJP should apologise to the people for accusing a minister of corruption against whom no FIR has been filed," he demanded.

Jain was arrested on May 30 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and a trial court remanded him to ED's custody till June 9.