The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested two associates of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on charges of money laundering.
As per the ED, it arrested Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain, after questioning them. The accused were produced in the Rouse Avenue Court later in the evening and were remanded to 6-day ED custody, the agency had sought 10-day custody.
Besides Ankush and Vaibhav, Naveen Jain and Siddharth Jain (Directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), G.S. Matharoo (Chairman of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust which runs the Prudence Group of Schools), Yogesh Kumar Jain (Director in Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), father-in-law of Ankush Jain and Lala Sher Singh of Jivan Vigyan Trust have been questioned by ED for assisting Jain.
On June 6, ED had conducted day-long raid at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region related to Jain’s aides and seized Rs 2.85 crore cash and 133 gold coins from them.
The agency had also seized various incriminating documents and digital records during these raids.
It said the assets were seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 at the premises of Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, his accomplices and other persons, who had either directly or indirectly assisted him or participated in the processes of money laundering.
Investigation by ED revealed that one accomplice member of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust had provided accommodation entries for the transfer of land from a company beneficially owned by the Health Minister to the family members of accomplices, in order to alienate the property and frustrate the process of confiscation.
The ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017, under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.
CBI had filed a charge sheet against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain on December 3, 2018.
The charge sheet mentioned that Jain, while holding the office as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, during the period between February 14, 2015 to May 31, 2017, had acquired assets, which are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
CBI has charged the Minister and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Jain was arrested by ED on May 30, after the agency, in April, 2022, attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore owned by companies named Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in connection with the disproportionate asset and money laundering case registered against Jain, his wife Poonam Jain and others.