Delhi High Court Refuses Bail To AAP's Satyendar Jain Citing Possibility Of Evidence Tampering

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Satyendar Jain was denied bail by the Delhi High Court on Thursday (6 April) in a money laundering case under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate.

The bail plea of the AAP leader was dismissed by the high court due to his influential position and potential for tampering with evidence. The court also found the trial court's order, which denied the bail plea, to be lawful.

Accused Satyendar Jain allegedly laundered money through four companies, said to be linked to him, before being arrested on 30 May 2022.

"Facts show that certain disproportionate assets were masked. The court has to see the prima facie case. The broad probabilities indicate that the companies associated to him are controlled and managed by him (Satyendar Jain)," the court said.

Jain had appealed to the high court following the rejection of his bail plea by the trial court in November last year.

In his plea to the high court, Jain said he had cooperated with the Enforcement Directorate's investigation, and criticised the trial court judge and probing agency for misapplying the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

He argued that accommodation entries, on their own, do not qualify as proceeds of crime and, therefore, cannot result in a punishable offence under the Act.

Satyendar Jain's allegedly "beneficially owned and controlled" companies laundered Rs 4.81 crore from shell companies to Kolkata-based entry operators through hawala, according to the enforcement agency.

The case against Jain stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation complaint that he allegedly obtained movable properties in other people's names between February 2015 and May 2017 that he couldn't explain satisfactorily.