The ED recovered over Rs 2 crore in cash, jewelery worth lakhs of rupees after searching the premises of associates of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
Satyendra Jain corruption case: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recovered over Rs 2 crore in cash and jewelery from associates of Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in an alleged corruption case. Searches were conducted on Monday at the residential premises of the associates of Satyendar Jain.
According to reports, Rs 2.23 crore in cash has been recovered from Ram Prakash Jeweller, while Rs 41.5 lakh (Rs 20 lakh cash (approx) and 133 gold coins) has been recovered from one Vaibhav Jain.
Officials said the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids against arrested Delhi minister Satyendar Jain as part of a money laundering probe related to the alleged hawala deal.
He said raids at Jain’s residential complexes and other places in Delhi were being carried out as a ‘follow up’ in the matter.
ED recovered cash, gold coins from associates of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in alleged corruption case.
Jain, 57, was arrested on May 30 under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is in ED custody till June 9.
The agency is understood to have found some new evidence and links after questioning Jain and some alleged hawala operators in the past few days. Officials said that raids were conducted to gather more information about these information.
Jain is currently a minister in the Delhi government without any portfolio. More than half a dozen portfolios of Jain were transferred to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on June 2.
Delhi minister Arvind Kejriwal has defended Jain as a “hardcore honest and patriotic” person who is being “falsely implicated” and hopes the minister will come out innocent after the ED probe.
In April, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain’s family and companies “profitably owned and controlled” by them as part of the probe.
The ED had then said in a statement that it had issued a provisional order under 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, Mangalayatan Projects”. Private Limited, JJ Ideal Estate Private Limited, Swati Jain, wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, wife of Ajit Prasad Jain and Indu Jain, wife of Sunil Jain.
The investigation found that “during 2015 and 2016, when Satyendra Kumar Jain was a public servant, companies owned and controlled by him received housing entries worth Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies, while the cash was transferred to Kolkata-based companies.” The operator of the entry through the hawala route.”
“These amounts were used for outright purchase of land or for repayment of loans taken for purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,” the ED said.
Officials had said that the persons named in the attachment order are associates and family members of Jain.
The money laundering case against the AAP minister stems from an FIR lodged in August 2017 by the CBI against him and others for possessing disproportionate assets.
A chargesheet was filed by the CBI in December 2018 stating that the value of the alleged disproportionate assets during 2015-17 was Rs 1.47 crore, which was about 217 per cent more than their known sources of income.
The Income Tax Department had also probed these transactions and issued an order to attach “benami properties” allegedly linked to Jain.