The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its recent chargesheet has alled that Delhi minister Satyendar Jain and his associates "utilised" hawala funds to purchase agricultural lands in and around Delhi and to repay loans for similar transactions.
The ED has named Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and associates Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain in the chargesheet, which was filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi on Wednesday. Besides these individuals, the chargesheet also names four companies — Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Manglayatan Developers Pvt. Ltd and J J Ideal Estate Pvt. Ltd.
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The ED said in a statement that the court took cognisance of the chargesheet on Friday.
The ED had arrested 57-year-old Jain, a minister without portfolio in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, on May 30. Jain held health, power and few other charges before ED took him into custody.
The ED had also arrested Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain. The two of them are also in judicial custody along with Jain.
THe ED said that the investigation has found that "during 2015-16, Satyendar Jain was a public servant and the above mentioned four companies (beneficially owned and controlled by him) received accommodation entries (hawala) to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (bogus) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through hawala route".
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The ED said, "These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of agricultural land or for the repayment of loan taken for purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi."
It added that the accused were "therefore, found to be involved in the activity connected with the proceeds of crime generated as a result of criminal activity related to scheduled offence and thereby have committed offences of Section 3 of PMLA 2002."
The ED has conducted at least two rounds of raids against Jain's family and associates. It had claimed to have seized "unexplained" cash worth Rs 2.85 crore and 133 gold coins after the first round of raids conducted on June 6. In April, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore and companies "beneficially owned and controlled" by him as part of the probe.
The money laundering case against Jain stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him and others on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.
A chargesheet was filed by the CBI in December 2018 stating that the alleged disproportionate assets was to the tune of Rs 1.47 crore, about 217 per cent more than his known sources of income, during 2015-17.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had defended Jain saying he was a "hardcore honest and patriot" person who was being framed in a "false case" and hoped he will come out clean after the ED probe.
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(With PTI inputs)
