The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids across multiple locations in the National Capital Region (NCR), in connection with a money laundering case against Delhi minister Satyendar Jain and his associates, officials told news agency PTI on Friday, 17 June.
At least 10 residential and business locations associated with the minister are being raided.
This comes days after he was sent to 14-day judicial custody on 13 June by the Delhi High Court and his bail plea order was reserved by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Tuesday, 14 June.
The ED arrested Jain, a minister without portfolio in the Kejriwal government, on 30 May, under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on charges of hawala dealings.
The central agency conducted a search operation on 6 June at the premises of Jain, his wife and accomplices who had either directly or indirectly allegedly assisted him or participated in the processes of money laundering.
In the raid that ensued, the central agency seized Rs 2.82 crore of cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg.
What Has Jain’s Lawyer Said?
During his bail plea hearing, Senior Advocate N Hariharan had argued on behalf of Jain that no case of money laundering had been made out against the minister as legal requirements remained unfulfilled.
He also added that the land involved in the case was purchased by companies that were not controlled by Jain as he had a very small share in them, emphasising that companies and shareholders were separate entities.
Hariharan also said that his client was suffering from sleep apnea.
"The trust about which ED is talking about, my client had resigned from them before check period of 2015-2017. He has nothing to do with those trusts. Apart from that, he is suffering from sleep apnea," he said, according to news agency ANI.
Opposing Jain's bail plea, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju said that the minister did not cooperate during the investigation, adding that his answers were always evasive.
What Is the Case Against Jain?
The ED, in April this year, had 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 properties belonging to Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Manglayatan Projects Pvt Ltd, JJ Ideal Estate Pvt Ltd, and others were attached in the case.
The ED said that its 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."
"These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for the repayment of loan taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi," the ED had said.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI).
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