Delhi minister Satyender Jain, who was arrested in a money laundering case in May, is living a life of luxury in jail and regularly meeting the co-accused in a bid to influence the investigation, the Enforcement Directorate on Sunday told a special court. It said the AAP minister was receiving all facilities, including body massage, inside Tihar Jail and misusing his position as jail minister.
According to a report published by NDTVthe central probe agency submitted CCTV footage to support its claims along with an affidavit. Jain’s wife, Poonam Jain, has also been given access to his prison cell and frequently visited him beyond permissible limits, news agency YEARS quoted sources as saying.
Launching an attack against the Arvind Kejriwal-led government, the BJP held a press conference alleging that Jain was clearly trying to tamper with evidence in the case. Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta and MP Manoj Tiwari said Kejriwal had not yet sacked a minister who was in jail on corruption charges.
The YEARS report stated that the footage procured by the ED shows Jain meeting the jail superintendent daily, which is against rules. Defying court orders, the minister also gets homemade food in prison.
According to the ED, the minister often meets with co-accused in the case, Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain, both of whom are lodged in Tihar as well.
The Tihar jail administration, however, denied the ED’s claims and said no one from outside ever visited Jain, the NDTV report stated. The administration said the probe agency had asked for footage of Jain’s prison cell and the ward in which he has been placed.
The jail administration said prisoners were allowed to talk to each other during a headcount in the morning and the footage pertained to one of those times when Jain is spotted talking to the co-accused. The co-accused were also lodged in the same ward and prisoners could not visit each other inside their cells, it added.
The BJP went all out slamming Kejriwal for not sacking a minister lodged behind bars on charges of corruption. It said Jain was meeting co-accused and trying to influence the investigation as well as tamper with evidence.
“On the one hand, Kejriwal hasn’t sacked Satyendar Jain and on the other, the minister is saying he has lost his memory. After this, we demand that Satyendar Jain should be sacked,” Adesh Gupta said quoting from media reports.
He added: “We will protest against this and demand he should be transferred to another jail.”
Manoj Tiwari said Kejriwal had a new ministry called “MMM for money management ministry”. “This minister is the jail minister. Kejriwal is not taking any action against such a minister. This is the clincher against Satyendar Jain as one thing is clear that he is trying to tamper with the evidence,” Tiwari added.
Jain was arrested by the ED on corruption charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody. Two others were also arrested in the case. The money laundering case is based on an FIR by the CBI lodged against the AAP leader in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He is accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him.
(With PTI inputs)
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