ED set to arrest Delhi minister Jain ahead of Punjab polls, says Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal said that leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party have nothing to fear from any agency because they have not done anything wrong.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday told reporters he has learned that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to arrest a senior minister in his cabinet, Satyendar Jain, ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, and said that the alleged move will be another example of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using federal agencies to target political rivals.

“We have learned from our sources that in the coming few days, before the Punjab election, ED is going to arrest Satyendar Jain,” Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said. (ANI)

Kejriwal, whose government has been at odds with the BJP over several issues and government schemes, did not elaborate how he or his party became aware of this information.

“We have learned from our sources that in the coming few days, before the Punjab election, ED is going to arrest Satyendar Jain (Delhi health minister). I welcome ED. The Centre got Jain raided twice before, but found nothing. Now if they want to come again and raid, they are welcome,” Kejriwal said in a digital press conference.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief went on to add that leaders of his party have nothing to fear from any agency because they have not done anything wrong.

“If BJP-led central government wants to send ED, CBI, Income Tax, Delhi Police, or any other agency, they can go ahead and send them. If they want to raid and arrest anyone including Bhagwant Mann (AAP’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate), they can do that. We all will be very happy to host you and will welcome you with wide smiles. We are not afraid because we have never done anything wrong,” Kejriwal said.

The Enforcement Directorate declined to comment on the charge.

When asked about the apprehensions raised over his possible arrest, Delhi health minister Jain said he was ready to face any action.

“It is due to Punjab elections. We will not buckle down and we will fight the Punjab election with all strength. The previous raids were also conducted during Punjab elections. ED has raided my house twice in past. I welcome CBI, ED, income tax and other agencies,” said Jain, who was in Ludhiana on Sunday.

Jain was on ED’s radar in 2017 in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

The case was filed by CBI, which claimed that Jain could not explain the source of funds received by four companies in which he was a shareholder. Jain and his wife were alleged holders of one-third of the shares of these companies.

CBI in 2018 filed a charge sheet in the case against Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain and business associates in the disproportionate assets case. The agency said the extent of disproportionate assets amounted to ₹1.47 crore.

Kejriwal said this was not the first time that AAP leaders were being targeted.

“In the past, raids were conducted against him (Jain), Manish Sisodia (deputy CM), and other AAP ministers, but nothing was found. Our 21 MLAs were arrested, but in the end all of them came out clean through the court. Jain will also come out on bail within 5-10 days. They won’t have a single proof for the courts to see,” Kejriwal said.

Talking about the recent raids against Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey, he said that leaders of his party will not get “flustered” in the way the Punjab chief minister got.

“Channi has been making a spectacle out of the raids conducted on his relatives because he knows he is the wrong one there. Everyone by now has seen the mountains of cash he was sitting on that got exposed during the raids.The people of Punjab are in utter shock that something like this could have panned out in a mere 111 days,” said Kejriwal.

ED had on Wednesday said that it seized cash amounting to over ₹10 crore, including about ₹8 crore from the house of Channi’s nephew during raids conducted in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in the poll-bound state.

Calling the raids “political motivated”, Channi on Wednesday denied any link with the cash allegedly recovered from his Honey’s residence.

Channi also said on Friday that he would file a defamation suit against Kejriwal for making insinuations linking him to the cash recovered by ED.

BJP leader and leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, said Kejriwal’s allegations were nothing but a political stunt.

“Kejriwal accuses the central investigative agencies of working on the directions of the central government, but when the same agencies carry out raids against Kejriwal’s political rivals, he hails the raids. Kejriwal has realised that he is going to lose the assembly elections, so he is trying to play an emotional card to gather sympathy. If Satyendar Jain has done nothing wrong, then why is the AAP government making a hue and cry?” Bidhuri said.