ED attaches ex-Delhi minister Satyender Jain's properties worth ₹7.44 crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached properties worth ₹7.44 crore linked to companies allegedly controlled by senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Satyender Jain, who is under investigation for allegedly holding assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. 

The central agency acted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 and on a fresh order dated  September 15.  The money laundering case goes back to a 2017 CBI investigation that accused Satyendar Jain of holding assets far beyond his known income between February 2015 and May 2017, when he was a minister in the Delhi government.

 The CBI later filed a chargesheet in 2018 against him, his wife Poonam Jain, and others. In March 2022, the ED had already seized assets worth ₹4.81 crore in the same case and filed a prosecution complaint, which was taken on record by a Delhi court. With the latest attachment, the total value of properties linked to Jain now stands at ₹12.25 crore — an amount the agency claims equals the full worth of the disproportionate assets he allegedly acquired.

According to the ED, soon after demonetisation in November 2016, Jain’s close associates Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain deposited ₹7.44 crore in cash as advance tax under the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS). They had declared assets worth ₹16.53 crore in the names of four companies, which investigators later concluded were actually owned and controlled by Satyendar Jain.  

Both the Income Tax Department and the Delhi High Court ruled that the associates were benami holders for Jain, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court.

Following these developments, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet enhancing the value of disproportionate assets.  The ED has said it will also file a fresh prosecution complaint in the case soon.

Jain was arrested by the ED in May 2022 on charges of laundering money through shell companies allegedly linked to him. He was granted bail after spending nearly two years in custody. The trial continues at Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi.