The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday challenged the bail petition of Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain before the Delhi High Court in a money laundering case.
After hearing the arguments made by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju who appeared for ED, the Single-Judge Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma listed the matter for further hearing on February 21.
ASG Raju said that charges of money laundering against Jain in the case were ‘crystal clear’. All he had to do was establish that Jain was in the thick of these things, noted the ASG.
He submitted that special treatment was given to the Minister by the Prison authorities, which was testimony to the fact that ED’s apprehension throughout was correct.
ED said that being a former minister of Prisons and Health, Jain was receiving favourable treatment from Jail officials, including the prison doctors.
The Counsel for ED submitted that Jain still continued to be a sitting minister in the Government of NCT Delhi and thus, was intimidating the witnesses through his incarceration.
This was not a baseless allegation as the facts were borne out from the CCTV footage of the Tihar jail premises submitted by the Directorate before the PMLA Special Judge, said ASG Raju.
He further said that there was a high likelihood of Jain attempting to influence witnesses, as was borne out from the video footage where he could be seen interacting with the co-accused on a regular basis.
The Counsel added that there was a high likelihood that the applicant once released, might seek to frustrate the proceedings under the Act.