Case against AAP leader Satyendar Jain: HC seeks ED stand on bail plea by two accused

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the stand of the Enforcement Directorate on pleas by Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain, co-accused in a money laundering case involving senior AAP leader Satyendar Jain, seeking default bail. A vacation bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice on the bail applications and asked the investigating agency to file a status report on the probe.

The case pertains to allegations against Satyendar Jain of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain were business associates of the former Delhi minister and abetted the commission of the offence. Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 last year by the ED.

The two accused in the present case had earlier moved the trial court claiming they deserved to be granted default bail as the charge sheet filed against them was incomplete.

On May 24, the trial court rejected the pleas and said a charge sheet is complete if on the basis of it and the documents filed along with it, the court, after applying its mind, is in a position to take cognizance of the offence. The ED had opposed their application on the ground that they were arrested on June 30, 2022 for the offence of money laundering and the prosecution complaint (ED’s equivalent of charge sheet) was filed on July 27, 2022, well before the expiry of 60-day prescribed period.

The ED had arrested Satyendar Jain in the money laundering case based on a CBI FIR registered against him in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was granted regular bail by a trial court on September 6, 2019, in the case registered by the CBI.

In 2022, the trial court had taken cognisance of the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) filed by the ED against Satyendar Jain, his wife and eight others, including the four firms, in connection with the money laundering case. The matter will be heard next on June 26.