Delhi High Court reserves verdict in bail plea by AAP's Satyendar Jain in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court has reserved its judgement in the bail plea moved by former Delhi cabinet minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in the money laundering case against him. .Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma reserved his verdict after hearing Senior Advocate N Hariharan for Jain and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The Court has also reserved its decision on the bail applications moved by Jain's co-accused, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain. .Jain has been behind bars since May 2022. The trial court had rejected his bail plea on November 17, 2022. He challenged the order before the High Court on December 1, 2022. .The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had initially registered a case under Sections 13(2) (criminal misconduct by public servant) read with 13(e) (disproportionate assets) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Jain.The case was registered on the allegation that Jain had acquired movable properties in the name of various persons between 2015 and 2017 which he could not satisfactorily account for.Later, the ED also registered a case and alleged several companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries amounting to ₹4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through a hawala route..While denying bail to Jain, Special Judge Vikas Dhull had observed that Jain was not entitled to the benefit of bail with respect to the twin conditions under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act."In the opinion of this court, ‘proceeds of crime’ was the amount which was generated by applicant/accused Satyendar Kumar Jain while working as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, for which he could not satisfactorily account for," the court underlined.