No respite for Satyendar Jain, ED conducts raids against Delhi Minister in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on May 30 under the provisions of the PMLA. On May 31, he was sent to ED`s custody till June 9 by a trial court.

Image courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: In connection with the money laundering probe linked to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, various teams of the Enforcement Directorate on Friday (June 17) conducted searches at various locations in the capital, said an ANI report citing sources. The raids were carried out at the residential and office premises of the persons linked to the case since morning under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. 

Earlier on June 6, the agency seized 2.85 crore cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kilograms from Jain`s aides during its day-long raid. In its previous raids, the ED has claimed to have seized various incriminating documents and digital records. Notably, the ED had arrested Jain on May 30 under the provisions of the PMLA. On May 31, the Delhi minister was sent to ED`s custody till June 9 by a trial court.

The recoveries made in earlier raids were from "unexplained source" and were "found to be secreted" in the raided premises. The raids were then carried out at the premises of Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and his accomplices and other persons who had either directly or indirectly assisted him or participated in the processes of money laundering.

According to the report, those who assisted the Delhi Minister in the money laundering are named as Ankush Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Naveen Jain and Siddharth Jain (Directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Private Limited), GS Matharoo (Chairman of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust which runs Prudence Group of Schools), Yogesh Kumar Jain (Director in Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), father-in-law of Ankush Jain and Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust. 

Investigation revealed that one accomplice member of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust had provided accommodation entries for the transfer of land from a company beneficially owned by Satyendar Jain to family members of accomplices in order to alienate the property and to frustrate the process of confiscation.

The ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017, under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.

Jain was arrested after the ED in April this year attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore owned by companies named Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in connection with the disproportionate asset and money laundering case registered Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and others.

The CBI filed a chargesheet on December 3, 2018, against Satyendar Kumar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain. The charge sheet mentions that Satyendar Jain while holding the office as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, during the period February 14, 2015, to May 31, 2017, had acquired assets which are disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CBI has accused Satyendar Kumar Jain and others of the commission of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

(With Agency Inputs)