The Enforcement Directorate is conducting raids at several places in the National Capital Region in connection with the money laundering probe against Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain and his associates, officials said on Friday morning.
At least 10 residential and commercial locations are being covered by Federal Investigation Agency officials as part of the search.
Premises linked to promoters of a business conglomerate running a major school are believed to have been covered as well. Jain, 57, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 30 under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is currently in judicial custody.
A Delhi court has reserved the verdict on his bail plea. The agency claimed to have seized “unexplained” cash worth Rs 2.85 crore and 133 gold coins after Jain’s arrest followed similar raids against his family and others.
The agency is investigating under PMLA for alleged hawala deal against Jain, a minister without portfolio in the Kejriwal government. 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. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal had defended Jain as a “hardcore honest patriot” who was “being falsely implicated”. The chief had said that he was hopeful that Jain would come out innocent after the ED probe.
The ED had said that a provisional order was issued under PMLA for attachment of immovable assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Mangalayatan Projects Pvt Ltd. JJ Ideal Estate Pvt Ltd, 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 the period 2015-16, when Satyendra Kumar Jain was a public servant, companies profitably owned and controlled by him received housing entries worth Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies, while cash amounting to Rs. based entry operators through 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 said those named in the attachment order are Jain’s associates and family members. The money laundering case against the AAP minister stems from an August 1, 2017 FIR filed by the CBI against him and others for alleged possession of disproportionate assets (DA).
A chargesheet was filed by the CBI in December, 2018 stating that the alleged DA was Rs 1.47 crore, which was about 217 per cent more than his known sources of income during 2015-17.
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