Delhi HC asks ED to respond to Satyendar Jain’s plea in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) response on a plea by former Delhi minister Satyendar Kumar Jain challenging an order taking cognisance of a charge sheet against him and others in a money laundering case.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued notice to the ED on Jain’s petition and asked it to file a status report within 15 days.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 22.

Jain has sought setting aside of a trial court’s July 29, 2022 order taking cognisance of ED’s charge sheet in the money laundering case.

He has also challenged the summons issued to him in the case and the subsequent orders remanding him in judicial custody, and sought his release from the jail.

The ED opposed the petition on grounds of maintainability and said while the trial court’s cognisance order was passed in July 2022, the AAP leader has challenged it now.

Besides Satyendar Jain, the ED had also filed the charge sheet against his wife Poonam Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Ankush Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain and Sunil Jain.

The charge sheet was also filed against four companies - Akinchan Developers Private Limited, Paryas Infosolutions Private Limited, Manglayatan Developers Private Limited, and JJ Ideal Estate Private Limited.

The ED initiated a money laundering investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017 under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI alleged that Satyendar Jain, while holding the office of a minister in the Delhi government, acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between February 14, 2015 and May 31, 2017.