Satyendar Jain gets clean chit in PWD hiring case

NEW DELHI: On Monday, a Delhi court closed the PWD Recruitment corruption case against former Delhi PWD Minister Satyendar Jain after the CBI found no evidence of corruption, criminal conspiracy, undue favour or personal gain.

The investigation, which began in May 2019, was based on allegations that Jain had bypassed standard government recruitment procedures by outsourcing the hiring of a 17-member team of consultants. However, the CBI concluded that the hiring process was transparent, competitive, and necessitated by administrative requirements. The court accepted the agency’s closure report, putting to rest a case that the Aam Aadmi Party had described as “part of the BJP’s larger strategy to malign and cripple AAP’s governance model through false cases.”

Reacting to this, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal took to ‘X’ and stated, “All the cases filed against AAP leaders are false. With time, the truth will come out in all cases. Mud was slung at us day and night, our families had to endure so much pain, what about compensation for all that?” Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia wrote: “The BJP put in all its might, but victory always belongs to the truth. Satyameva Jayate.”

AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said the closure confirms that no corruption or personal gain was found. He criticised the then Lieutenant Governor for approving the probe and alleged that the case led to years of harassment of Jain, his family, and associates.

He said architects were hired via a tender-based agency and selected through interviews for non-permanent roles. Alleging political motive, he claimed the case aimed to hinder Delhi’s development and malign AAP leaders with false charges.