New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail for six months to jailed former Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain.
The bail, granted on medical grounds, came with the riders that the former minister could not leave Delhi without permission and also could not make statements before the media.
The apex court allowed the politician to undergo treatment in a hospital of his choice and also asked him to produce medical records.
Jain had moved the top court last week challenging the Delhi High Court’s order denying him bail.
His lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi contended before the Supreme Court that the former education minister has lost 35 kgs since his arrest last May.
Jain collapsed in jail early Thursday morning and was first taken to the DDU Hospital. Prison authorities said he slipped and fell in the bathroom of Tihar’s medical inspection room, where he was under observation for general weakness.
Though his vitals were normal, according to prison officials, Jain was referred to the DDU Hospital since he also complained of back, leg and shoulder pain.
Later in the day, Jain was admitted to the intensive care unit of Delhi’s LNJP Hospital Thursday and was put on oxygen support.
AAP has claimed the leader suffered from acute lumbar pain, which caused vertigo and chronic lower back ache. A recent MRI has revealed degeneration in all intervertebral discs and the politician has been advised urgent spinal surgery, the party said.
However, he was at no 416 on Tihar’s waiting list of operations, the AAP said, adding his operation, therefore, would not happen before five months.
AAP also said Jain was depressed, suffered from sleep apnea and needed a BiPAP machine while sleeping.
On Monday, Jain was examined at Safdarjung Hospital for a spinal injury that he incurred from a previous fall in the jail’s bathroom.
Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 30 May, 2022 on charges of money-laundering. The ED’s case is based on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) complaint registered on allegations that Jain had acquired movable properties in the name of various people from February 2015 to May 2017.
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