New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected the bail plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendra Jain and two other co-accused Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. On March 21, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had reserved the verdict on this bail plea.

Satyendra Jain is an influential person and has the potential to tamper with the evidence

In another case, Manish Sisodia, the leader of the AAP, filed a petition with the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s decision to refuse him bail in the CBI lawsuit concerning the Delhi liquor policy scam. The case will be heard next on April 20, as Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice to the CBI to file a reply within two weeks.

While pronouncing the order rejecting bail for Jain, the court observed that the broad probability indicates that the four companies concerned in this case were directly or indirectly controlled and operated by Satyendra Jain. The court emphasized the continuously changing pattern of the shareholdings of the company to deduce this conclusion

The court said, “The shareholding patterns also show that petitioner Satyendra Kumar Jain or his family is controlling them directly or indirectly. The petitioner Satyendra Jain is an influential person and has the potential to tamper with the evidence, as indicated by his conduct during the custody.”

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju represented the ED before the court. He argued that when the trial court had rejected bail, it had said that the accused was a business partner and that the money clearly belonged to Satyendra Jain. ASG had further contended that the accused was controlling the people responsible for running the business. Furthermore, it was said that the transaction took place after the “entire sum had been stamped in the name of Satyendra Jain.”

ASG SV Raju said, “Money laundering is crystal clear. Their case is that Satyendra Jain has nothing to do with it. I have to establish that Satyendra Jain was in the thick of these things.” ASG SV Raju argued that the special treatment extended by the prison authorities to Satyendra Jain showed that the ED’s apprehension throughout was correct that being a former minister of prisons and health he was receiving favorable treatment from the prison officials including the prison doctors.

He added, “The above facts are borne out from the CCTV video footage of the Tihar jail premises submitted by the Directorate before the PMLA special judge.” He said that there is a strong chance that the petitioner will try to obstruct the Act’s processes after being freed.