New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recovered Rs 2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins during searches in a money-laundering case linked with Delhi minister Satyendar Jain and others.
The raids, including that at the residential premises of Jain in Delhi and other locations, were conducted on Monday.
Jain, 57, was arrested on 30 May under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he is in the ED’s custody till 9 June.
Monday’s raids were prompted by information culled out of Jain and other hawala operators in the last few days, investigators said.
The raids were launched to gather further details on these inputs, officials said.
Jain has been in the cross hairs of probe agencies since 2017 for allegedly accruing wealth disproportionate to his source of income.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against him in August 2017 and a charge sheet in December 2018. The probe agency accused Jain of amassing assets worth Rs 1.47 crore between 2015 and 2017 — about 217 per cent more than Jain’s known sources of income.
The Income Tax Department too probed these transactions and issued an order attaching “benami assets” allegedly linked to Jain.
In April this year, the ED froze assets worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to the Jain family.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has strongly backed his colleague as a “hardcore honest” person, and said Jain has been framed in a false case.
After Tuesday’s seizures, Kejriwal said the Prime Minister was gunning for his party and its governments in Delhi and Punjab.
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