Satyendar Jain Arrested: BJP's Harsh Malhotra Slams AAP Over STP Scam

The Anti-Corruption Branch arrested former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain and former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai on Tuesday. The arrests relate to alleged corruption in the board's sewage treatment plant tendering process.

The agency registered the case on May 11, 2024. The other arrested individuals are former contractual consultant Ankit Srivastava and private individuals Nagendra Yadav, Raja Kumar Kurra and Pankaj Verma, an agency statement reported by PTI.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal criticised the arrests. "Satyendar Jain ji has once again been arrested at the behest of the BJP... This case will also be proven to be fake," Kejriwal said, as reported by PTI.

BJP Alleges STP Scam

Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra targeted the previous AAP administration over the alleged financial irregularities. He said the failure to set up sewage treatment plants worsened pollution in the Yamuna.

"The STP scam and the arrests made in connection with it have made it clear why not a single STP was installed on any drain during the 10-year rule of the Kejriwal government and why the Yamuna became even more polluted over those ten years," Malhotra said, as reported by PTI. He demanded that Kejriwal accept the offences committed by his government.

Malhotra said investigators have established a clear money trail of embezzlement. The misappropriated funds were distributed among the former minister, officials and contractors, PTI reported.

AAP Cries Political Vendetta

AAP leaders dismissed the charges as a calculated political move. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Atishi condemned the arrests. "In the arrogance of power, the BJP may have forgotten that there is a limit to lies and oppression... the truth cannot be suppressed forever," Atishi said, as reported by PTI.

Senior leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh linked the timing to the upcoming Punjab elections. Both pointed out that Jain is the Punjab election co-in-charge, PTI reported. Sisodia said Jain had previously spent two-and-a-half years in jail in a fake case.

AAP national spokesperson Anurag Dhanda said there is a timeline discrepancy in the charges. The sewage treatment plant tender was issued in October 2022, while Jain had already been in jail since May 2022 in a prior case, Dhanda said, as reported by PTI.