Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has granted permission to the Anti-Corruption Branch to investigate former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in a bribery case related to the installation of Close Circuit Television Cameras, The Hindu reported.
The investigation will be conducted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Jain, an Aam Aadmi Party leader, has been accused of receiving a bribe of Rs 7 crore from Bharat Electronics Limited to waive the penalty of Rs 16 crore imposed on the firm, which had been tasked with installing security cameras in the national capital under a project worth Rs 571 crore.
“LG agreed with the proposal of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to refer the matter under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PoC) Act, 1998 to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for approving an investigation against Jain by ACB,” a statement from the lieutenant governor’s office said, according to India Today.
In September 2019, an employee of Bharat Electronics Limited filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Branch claiming that the firm had arranged the bribe money for Jain through its vendors.
Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi party has rejected the allegations against Jain, claiming that it was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “relentless conspiracies” against it, The Hindu reported. “The BJP is relentlessly engaging in sinister conspiracies against the Delhi government day and night to halt its works,” the newspaper quoted Aam Aadmi Party as saying.
Jain is already in jail. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in May 2022 in a case of money laundering.
The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s case against Jain, filed in August 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. A year later, it filed a chargesheet against Jain, his wife and four of his associates.
On June 25, the Supreme Court observed that bail petitions are not to be unnecessarily adjourned as it urged the Delhi High Court to decide without delay on an application filed by Jain in the money-laundering case.
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