CBI raids Jain's residence, AAP cries vendetta politics

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday searched the official residence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, in addition to registering an FIR against him, his wife and four others, in connection with a money laundering case.

The agency had earlier filed a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Jain in April. With an FIR now filed, the agency will carry out a detailed probe.

The case has been filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Jain, his wife Poonam, his alleged associates – Ajeet Prasad Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain and Ankush Jain.

"It has been alleged that the said Minister of Delhi Government while functioning as a Public Servant has amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the extent of Rs 1.62 crore during the period of February 14, 2015 to May 31, 2017. His wife and associates have allegedly abetted the commission of said offence," a CBI spokesperson told reporters.

The CBI said during enquiry, it was found that the minister and his associates were allegedly involved in money laundering to the tune of Rs 4.63 crore during 2015-16 through shell companies based in Delhi.

"This apart, before becoming public servant, he was allegedly involved in laundering of Rs 11.78 crore during the years 2010-12 through these companies as well as other companies also based in New Delhi," it said.

Regarding the raid at Jain's residence, the spokesperson said: "Searches are being conducted at four places, including at residences and company office premises of the accused persons based at Delhi. So far, this has led to the recovery of certain incriminating documents."

Declaring the CBI raids as a political manoeuvre, Aam Aadmi Party said that the action is being taken under the Centre's influence.

AAP leader Atishi Marlena tweeted: "Maths lesson on simple equations: Number of CBI raids is directly proportional to the amount of work done for the public!!"

Questioning the CBI's allegation that two of Jain's workers used to handle the hawala transaction by means of calls to Kolkata using landline numbers, AAP leaders said that the phone number in question never had STD facility and had been disconnected since 2014.