The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday stated it had attached immovable properties worth Rs 7.44 crore belonging to companies allegedly owned and controlled by Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain.
The agency said it began investigating the Aam Aadmi Party leader after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a first information report in August 2017 against him and his wife, Poonam Jain. The probe agency had booked them for allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets between February 2015 and May 2017, when he was a minister in the Delhi government.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in December 2018.
The ED had provisionally attached properties worth Rs 4.81 crore in March 2022 and filed a prosecution complaint in July 2022.
With the latest action, the total assets attached so far in this matter stand at Rs 12.24 crore, representing “100% of the disproportionate assets acquired by Jain” in the form of immovable properties held in companies beneficially owned and controlled by him, the enforcement agency stated on Tuesday.
A supplementary prosecution complaint will be filed soon, it added.
The case against Satyendar Jain
In November 2016, soon after demonetisation, Satyendar Jain’s close associates Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain deposited Rs 7.44 crore in cash at Bank of Baroda’s Bhogal branch under the Income Disclosure Scheme, the ED has alleged.
They declared an income of Rs 16.53 crore in the accounts of four companies, Akinchan Developers, Paryas Infosolutions, Manglayatan Projects, and Indo Metal Impex, which the agency alleged were beneficially owned and controlled by Satyendar Jain.
The ED alleged that these were shell companies and that money routed through them was used for buying land or for repaying loans taken for buying agricultural land in and around Delhi.
“The Income Tax Department and the Delhi High Court held Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain to be benami holders for Satyendar Jain,” the ED stated. “The Supreme Court dismissed their…review petitions, rendering the finding final.”
The trial in the case is underway at the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi.
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!