ED raids Delhi minister Satyendar Jain's home, other premises

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted raids against arrested Delhi minister Satyendar Jain as part of a money-laundering probe linked to an alleged hawala dealings case being conducted against him, officials said.

The raids, including that at the residential premises of Jain in Delhi and other locations, are being conducted as part of a 'follow up' in the case, they said.

Jain, 57, was arrested on May 30 under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he is in ED custody till June 9.

The agency is understood to have found some new evidence and links after it questioned Jain and some alleged hawala operators over the last few days.

The raids were launched to gather further details on these inputs, officials said.

Jain is currently a minister without any portfolio in the Delhi government.

Over half-a-dozen portfolios of Jain were transferred to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on June 2.

Kejriwal has defended Jain as a 'hardcore honest and patriot' person who was being 'framed in a false case' and hoped the minister will come out clean after the ED probe.

In April, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain's family and companies 'beneficially owned and controlled' by him as part of the probe.

In a statement then, the ED had said it issued a provisional order under the PMLA to 'attach immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd., Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd., Manglayatan Projects Pvt. Ltd., J.J. Ideal Estate Pvt. Ltd., Swati Jain, wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, wife of Ajit Prasad Jain, and Indu Jain, wife of Sunil Jain'.

The probe found that 'during 2015 and 2016, when Satyendar Kumar Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route'.

'These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for repayment of loan taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi,' the ED said.

The named persons in the attachment order are associates and family members of Jain, officials had said.

The money laundering case against the Aam Aadmi Party minister stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the CBI against him and others on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.

A charge sheet was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in December 2018 stating that the alleged disproportionate assets were valued at Rs 1.47 crore, about 217 per cent more than his known sources of income, during 2015-17.

The Income Tax Department too had probed these transactions and had issued an order attaching 'benami assets' allegedly linked to Jain.