Back to jail for Satyendar Jain booked in graft case?

Wed, 19 March 2025

15:56

The Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has registered a case against former PWD minister and senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption in a Rs 571-crore CCTV project, an official said on Wednesday.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday after obtaining prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act from the competent authority, said Joint Commissioner of Police (ACB) Madhur Verma.

"Jain is accused of arbitrarily waiving liquidated damages worth Rs 16 crore imposed on Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for delays in installing CCTV cameras across Delhi. The waiver was allegedly granted after receiving a Rs 7-crore bribe," Verma said in a statement.

Multiple complaints have suggested that the project was executed in a shoddy manner, with several cameras found to be non-functional at the time of hand over, he said.

According to the statement, the case is based on a news report which claimed that a bribe of Rs 7 crore was arranged for Jain, who was the nodal officer for the CCTV project, in exchange for waiving penalties imposed on BEL and its contractors. The penalties were initially levied in August 2019 by the previous AAP government due to significant delays in the installation of 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras across Delhi's 70 assembly constituencies. During verification, a BEL officer provided a detailed complaint supporting the allegations. The complaint further alleged that in addition to waiving the penalties, additional orders for 1.4 lakh more CCTV cameras were awarded to BEL, the Joint CP said. -- PTI

TOP STORIES

30 Maoists, cop killed in 2 encounters in Chhattisgarh

In a fresh offensive against Naxals, security forces killed at least 30 members of the banned CPI-Maoists in two separate encounters in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Thursday, officials said.

25 Indians on death row in UAE, govt tells RS

The Indian government has informed Parliament that 25 Indian nationals have been sentenced to death in the UAE, but the judgments are yet to be implemented. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that 10,152 Indian prisoners, including...

X to be held responsible for content by AI tool Grok

The Indian government has said that social media platform X will be held responsible for content generated by its artificial intelligence tool Grok. This comes after users on X asked Grok questions about Indian politicians and the AI...

Will Sunita, Wilmore get overtime for longer space stay?

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who returned to Earth after spending 286 days in space, will not receive any overtime for their extended stay, despite their spacecraft malfunctioning. NASA rules state astronauts are treated...

Grabbing of breast, breaking pyjami string not rape: HC

The order was passed by Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra on a revision petition filed by two persons who moved the court, challenging the order of a Special Judge of Kasganj by which the court had summoned them under Section 376 of IPC...