Sakina Tashrifwala
Published on: September 21, 2022 at 22:02 IST
After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed an application to transfer the case from a Special Court, a Delhi Court on Monday stayed the trial court proceedings against Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain, who is currently being held in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case.
Principal District & Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Gupta issued notice on the application and requested responses from Satyendar Jain, as well as the other accused parties, Ankush Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Poonam Jain, and M/s JJ Ideal State.
The Court set the matter for hearing on September 30 and ordered that “in the interim, the procedures before the court of Ld. Special Judge shall remain stayed until next date of hearing.”
In connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case against Jain and others, the agency has attached properties worth Rs. 4.81 crore belonging to five firms and others.
According to reports, these assets were registered in the names of companies including Akinchan Developers, Indo Metal Impex, Paryas Infosolutions, Mangalayatan Projects, and J.J. Ideal Estate, among others.
The money laundering case is based on a FIR filed by the CBI in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the minister and other people, in which it was alleged that the minister had accumulated assets between February 2015 and May 2017 that were out of proportion to his known sources of income.
After that, Jain was charged by the CBI in December 2018.
A recent public interest lawsuit seeking Satyendar Jain’s expulsion from the Delhi Legislative Assembly by designating him as having “unsound mind” was dismissed by the Delhi High Court.
In July, the High Court rejected a second PIL that sought to suspend Jain during an Enforcement Directorate investigation.
The Trial Court’s order allowing Jain’s attorney to be present during his questioning in the case had been previously overturned by the High Court, who then delayed that decision.
When remanding Jain to ED’s custody till June 9, the trial court set the condition.