A Delhi court on Friday took cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case, reported Bar and Bench.
“Looking to the material on record, it can be said that there is prima facie sufficient incriminating evidence about the involvement of the accused,” the court said in its order.
Jain is a minister without a portfolio in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 30 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He is currently in judicial custody.
The money laundering case is based on a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2017. The agency has alleged that between February 2015 and May 2017, Jain acquired assets disproportionate to his income.
On Friday, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel summoned all the other accused persons who are not in custody, including four companies.
Goel also pulled up the Enforcement Directorate, noting that the agency had wrongly mentioned Jain in the chargesheet as the “responsible person” for the accused companies, reported India Today. The judge said that Jain was neither the director of the companies nor was he associated with them.
“How will the companies become Satyendar Jain’s just by naming him?” the court asked the agency. “Is this the first time that you are filing a prosecution complaint? Just because ‘through Satyendar Jain’ is mentioned, the company can’t be his. Don’t you vet the document before giving to the court?”
Goel added: “Should I conduct a enquiry on the basis of these papers? Do you think IO [investigating officer] can give anything he wants?”
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju then told the court he will file an amended memo on the next date of hearing.
The matter will now be heard on August 6.
ED chargesheet
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that four firms – Akinchan Developers Private Limited, Paryas Infosolutions Private Limited, Manglayatan Projects Private Limited and JJ Ideal Estate Private Limited – are shell companies controlled by Jain and his relatives.
The agency claimed that money routed through the companies was used to buy land or repay loans taken to buy agricultural land in and around Delhi.
In April, the Enforcement Directorate had attached immovable property worth Rs 4.81 crore allegedly belonging to companies linked to Jain and his relatives.
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