Delhi Health Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain was sent to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till 9 June after he was arrested in connection with alleged hawala transactions linked to a Kolkata-based company on Tuesday, 31 May.
Terming the case against Jain "completely fake," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "To be involved in corruption is equal to betraying the country...we can get our heads sliced off, but can never betray the country."
Special CBI Court Judge Geetanjli Goel passed the order after the probe agency sought custody of Jain for 14 days, reported Bar and Bench. The ED arrested Satyendar Jain on Monday.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the ED said:
"We don't know if he was laundering somebody else's money. Who are other potential beneficiaries of this money laundering?"
Mehta submitted that 14-day custody of Jain was necessary to investigate where the money came from.
What Did the ED Say?
The ED, in April this year, provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to companies allegedly linked to Jain and his relatives under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The ED's probe had revealed that during the period from 2015-16, the companies owned and controlled by Jain received accommodation entries of nearly Rs 4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the "hawala route."
The agency said in a previous statement,
"Enforcement Directorate (ED), after initiating a money-laundering probe against Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI, provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to his family and firms, under PMLA 2002."
No Closure Report Against Jain in DA Case: CBI
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday refuted reports claiming that the agency filed a closure report against Satyendar Jain in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case, reported ANI.
A CBI official told ANI, "No closure report has been filed against Satyendar Jain."
The official added that the CBI had registered a DA case against the Health Minister on 24 August 2017, and subsequently filed a charge sheet against him on 3 December 2018.
AAP leader Jain currently holds the health, home, power, public works department, industries, urban development and flood, irrigation, and water portfolios in the Delhi government as a minister.
'Case Against Jain Completely Fake': Kejriwal
Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal termed the case a "fraud" on Tuesday and said that the entire investigation against Jain was "completely fake."
Kejriwal said, "All the charges against Jain are false. The entire investigation is completely fake. Even if there was 1 percent truth behind the accusations, I would have taken strict action against him. They have filed so many fake cases against our MLAs, all were given a clean chit by the court. In the end, truth prevails."
Kejriwal said that he had "hardworking, honest people" in his government who could never commit treason against the country. He said that his government equated corruption to treason and that its members would "rather die" than commit treason.
He said,
"A few days ago, we ourselves sacked a Punjab minister because he was involved in corruption. Nobody knew about this and it was nowhere in the media. We could have buried the case but we didn't. We are hardcore honest and patriots, we will rather die than betray the country. Because we don't compromise with our conscience."
He said that there had been so many cases filed against him but they (the BJP) have not found anything. He said Jain would be given a clean chit by the court soon and would be relieved.
"Our party runs on the ideology of Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh sacrificed himself for the truth and his country. Every AAP worker realizes that they must be ready to go to jail if need be. Satyendar Jain is a patriot and a hardcore innocent man. He is immensely brave and jail will only strengthen him," he further stated.
Kejriwal had previously said that Jain had been targeted because of political reasons.
Reacting to Jain's arrest, AAP leader Manish Sisodia took to Twitter to say that the ED arrested Jain because he was the election incharge of the party for Himachal Pradesh.
"There's been a fake case against Satyendar Jain for eight years. Till now, the ED has called him many times. In between, the ED stopped calling for many years as they did not get anything. Now, they have started again because Satyendar Jain is the election incharge of Himachal," Sisodia said.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh stated that Jain was arrested in "an 8-year-old case in connection with which he appeared before ED seven times."
He pointed out that the CBI had given him a clean chit and that the "BJP could not fathom that Jain was made Himachal Pradesh incharge, so they hatched this fake arrest."
Singh added, "This case highlights misuse of probe agencies...Soon he will be out as it's a baseless case...BJP is losing Himachal Pradesh polls."
(With inputs from Bar and Bench, ANI.)
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