Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain sent to ED custody till June 9

New Delhi, May 31

Noting his custodial interrogation was needed to unearth the alleged larger conspiracy, a Delhi court on Tuesday sent Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain to Enforcement Directorate’s custody till June 9 in a money laundering case.

Special judge Geetanjli Goel handed over to the ED the custody of Jain, who was arrested on Monday under certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, sought Jain’s 14-day custody for interrogation.

Alleging there were layers of money transfers, Mehta said the ED wanted to ascertain if the accused was laundering somebody else’s money and if there were other potential beneficiaries.

Accusing Jain of being evasive in his replies, the ED said his custody was required to find out where eventually the money came from.

“This is not a one-time offence. This is of a recurring nature which may still be going on. He (Jain) may be able to divulge details during custodial interrogation,” Mehta said.

The agency had earlier provisionally attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain’s family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by him as part of its probe against him. On behalf of Jain, senior Advocate N Hariharan opposed the ED application.

Jain implicated in false case: Kejriwal

Claiming that honesty is the one and only “benchmark” to remain in AAP, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, while defending Satyendar Jain, said he was a hardcore patriot and an honest man. He accused the BJP and Centre of “falsely implicating” Jain, as he checked all papers and did not find even an iota of truth in the allegations. TNS