Jain, the Delhi health minister, allegedly laundered over Rs 16 crore and used it to buy 80 acres of agricultural land. AAP hits out at Modi regime.
New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs has granted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sanction to prosecute Delhi Health Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain for allegedly “acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income”.
Jain allegedly laundered over Rs 16 crore between 2011 and 2016, with the CBI claiming that he used the money to buy over 80 acres of agricultural land near unauthorised colonies.
The CBI had sought sanction to prosecute Jain after registering a case against him on 24 August, 2017, on the recommendation of the Income Tax Department.
The I-T department had launched an investigation into Jain’s property purchases in 2017 under the amended Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. Jain has claimed that the amended Act didn’t apply to him, since it came into effect in November 2016, nearly seven months after the land had been bought.
Reacting sharply to the Central government’s decision, AAP spokesperson Nagender Sharma tweeted, “Modi regime cannot even do witch hunting properly.”
Modi govt's discredited caged parrot CBI which is gasping for survival registers a fake case against @SatyendarJain and Modi govt's MHA says it has given prosecution sanction.
Modi regime cannot even do witch hunting properly
— Nagendar Sharma (@sharmanagendar) November 29, 2018
Shell companies and I-T raids
Jain allegedly laundered money, amounting to Rs 16.39 crore, through 54 shell companies belonging to three Kolkata-based hawala operators — Jeevendra Mishra, Abhishek Chokhani and Rajendra Bansal.
Jain also allegedly floated and acquired several shell companies in Delhi, which include Akichan Developers, Indo Metal Impex, Paryas Infosolutions and Manglayatan Projects.
The Delhi health minister then allegedly proceeded to buy nearly 80 acres of land in the vicinity of the unorganised colonies of Karala, Auchandi, Nizampur, Budhan, in the North & North-West areas of Delhi.
“In writ petition before the Delhi High Court in case of Akichan Developers, Jain admitted that black money was actually laundered using shell companies controlled by three hawala entry operators of Kolkata,” a source familiar with the case alleged.
Government sources claimed that the AAP government’s attempts to regularise unauthorised colonies are directly linked to Jain’s investments in agricultural land. The proposed regularisation will convert agricultural land into residential/commercial land, which is likely to provide huge returns for the AAP leader.
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