ED questions Satyendar Jain in DJB’s STP probe

Jain, 60, reached the ED office on APJ Abdul Kalam Road at around 11am after which his statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday questioned senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the augmentation of few Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewage treatment plants (STPs), people familiar with the development said.

Satyendar Jain appears before the Anti-Corruption Branch on June 6, 2025. (PTI)

Jain, 60, reached the ED office on APJ Abdul Kalam Road at around 11am after which his statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Details of the questioning were not yet known.

The AAP leader is also under investigation in other cases as well by ED, including a 2022 case pertaining to alleged hawala transactions and possession of disproportionate assets, in which he was arrested that year as well. The agency last month booked him in connection to alleged irregularities in the construction of classrooms at government hospitals.

Early in June, he was interrogated along with former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch in connection with alleged irregularities in the construction of classrooms during the previous government’s tenure.

The probe into augmentation of STPs pertains to tenders awarded for upgradation of 10 STPs at Pappankala, Nilothi (Package 1), Najafgarh, Keshopur (Package 2), Coronation Pillar, Narela, Rohini (Package 3) and Kondli (Package 4).

The four tenders, valued at ₹1,943 crore, were awarded to various joint venture (JV) entities in October 2022.

According to ED, only three JV companies participated in the four tenders.

“While two JVs got one tender each, one JV got two tenders. The three JVs participated in the four STP tenders mutually to ensure that each one got the tender,” according to a statement by the probe agency shared in the matter in July 2024 after raids at various locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

It has also alleged that the tendering conditions were made restrictive, including adoption of IFAS technology to ensure that select few entities could participate in the four bids.

The agency has also alleged that the “contracts were awarded to the three JVs at inflated rates which caused a substantive loss to the exchequer. “The cost estimates initially prepared was ₹1,546 crore but was revised during the tender process to ₹1,943 crore,” it said in July 2024.

“The costs adopted by DJB for upgradation and augmentation were same though the cost of upgrading is lesser than the cost for augmentation. All the 3 JVs submitted the same experience certificate issued from a Taiwan Project to DJB for securing the tenders and the same was accepted without any verifications,” it added.

Subsequently, all the three JVs sub-contracted the work related to the four tenders to a single company in Hyderabad.

The AAP, in response, defended Jain and said the proceedings against him are “absurd”.

“ED’s own statement completely demolishes the foundation of this case. It admits the matter pertains to October 2022 — yet Satyendar Jain had already been arrested by ED in May 2022. How can someone be part of a conspiracy months after being jailed? ED has exposed the absurdity of its own case,” the party said in a statement on Thursday.