‘I want to ask…’: Smriti Irani's fresh attack on Kejriwal over Satyendar Jain

Satyendar Jain and his wife are accused of amassing disproportionate wealth to the tune of ₹1.47 crore between February 2015 and May 2017. The Delhi minister is in ED custody till Thursday.

Union minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday posed fresh questions to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over the arrest of minister Satyendar Jain who is in ED custody on charges of money laundering.

“I want to ask Arvind Kejriwal, did he check Delhi High Court's order which stated that Satyendar Jain had gathered ₹16 crores through shell companies and hawala operators?” news agency quoted Irani.

Union minister Smriti Irani and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

I asked 10 questions from (Delhi CM)Arvind Kejriwal on June 1, but he didn't answer any of them. ED seized around ₹2.80 cr cash&133 gold coins weighing above 1 kg from Satyendar Jain's aides. Does he(A Kejriwal)still think that Satyendar Jain is innocent?," she added.

The brief questionnaire comes days after the minister while addressing a press conference had asked a series of questions to Kejriwal over Satyendar Jain, who was arrested on May 30 by the central probe agency after being grilled for four hours in connection with a money laundering case.

“Is it true that the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax said that Satyendar Jain himself is the rightful owner of 16.39 crore black money? Is it true that the division bench of the Delhi high court, in one of its orders of 2019, had confirmed that Satyendar Jain has committed money laundering?” Irani asked these questions.

The ED probe is based on a 2017 case of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), according to which Jain and his wife Poonam Jain had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets worth ₹1.47 crores between February 2015 and May 2017.

The Aam Aadmi Party has come all out in support of Jain, linking his arrest to the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.