E-Paper
Delhi court extends Satyendar Jain’s judicial custody till July 20
On June 18, a city court had denied him bail saying that the matter is still under investigation and the possibility of tampering with evidence cannot be ruled out given the “influential” position of the accused
A Delhi court has extended AAP minister Satyendar Jain’s judicial custody till July 20 in connection with a money laundering case.
Jain was produced before the duty magistrate on Sunday at the end of his 14 days stay in jail.
He was arrested on May 30 and sent to 14 days in jail on June 13 at the end of his custodial interrogation by the probe agency.
On June 18, a city court had denied him bail saying that the matter is still under investigation and the possibility of tampering with evidence cannot be ruled out given the “influential” position of the accused.
The case is based on a 2017 CBI FIR lodged against the minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The ED has accused him of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him and where he was holding shares, while amassing disproportionate income.
According to ED, Jain transferred money to Kolkata through a hawala channel and got it back from dummy companies in the form of accommodation entries, even though he could not show the source of the money received.
Accommodation entries are usually done by hawala operators to accommodate illegal money in a company through a shell firm or in the form of cash by breaking large amounts into smaller sums to avoid suspicion.
The ED has told the court that investigation has revealed information about an accomplice of Lala Sher Singh of Jivan Vigyan Trust, who had allegedly provided accommodation entries for the transfer of land from a company beneficially owned by Jain to family members of accomplices in order to alienate the property and to stall the process of confiscation.
On June 6, the ED seized ₹2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendar Jain’s aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The agency had also seized various incriminating documents and digital records during these raids.
On Monday, special judge Geetanjali Goel also sent co-accused Vaibhav Jain to judicial custody till July 20. Another accused, Ankush Jain, is already in jail.
