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Delhi court sends AAP's Satyendar Jain to 14-day judicial custody in Jal Board corruption case
Satyendar Jain has been arrested by the ACB in an alleged corruption case involving tendering process for sewage treatment plant projects of Delhi Jal Board.
A Delhi court has sent former Delhi water minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendra Jain and four others accused in a Delhi Jal Board related corruption case being investigated by the Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to 14-day judicial custody while one of the accused and DJB employee Ankit Shrivastava was sent to two days in ACB's custody.
Jain and other accused were produced by the ACB at the Rouse Avenue Court earlier today.
The case against Jain and five others, including former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chief executive officer IAS Udit Prakash Rai, was registered on May 11, 2024, after a complaint by the Delhi government’s Directorate of Vigilance over alleged “large-scale irregularities” and “criminal conspiracy” in the tendering process for augmentation and upgradation of DJB STPs.
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According to ACB, its investigation found that the tender contained restrictive technical specifications and conditions that allegedly favoured Euroteck Environment, a particular technology provider, thereby limiting competition and giving the company an undue advantage.
An application to declare Jain's arrest as illegal was also dismissed by the court.
Kejriwal targets BJP over Jain's arrest
On Jain's arrest, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that the case against will be “proven fake”, accusing the ACB of arresting him at “the behest of the BJP”.
Accusing the ACB of taking action on “BJP's behest”, Kejriwal said that “lies will be exposed again”, referring to Jain's previous acquittal in another corruption case.
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Kejriwal also questioned the arrest move and claimed that he was arrested following the direction of Union home minister Amit Shah.
"An ACB official revealed that there was no plan for ACB to arrest Satyendra Jain until morning. Then in the afternoon, a direct call came from Amit Shah ji saying, 'Arrest him'. That's when the arrest was made," Kejriwal said in a post on X.
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