The President of India, Smt. Draupadi Murmu has been requested by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to authorize the prosecution of Satyendar Jain, a former minister from Delhi and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Under Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the ministry has requested sanction against the 60-year-old legislator, according to officials. They said that an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation and the existence of “adequate evidence” served as the foundation for the sanction request.
Jain was arrested in May 2022 after being charged by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case related to purported hawala transactions. He has been charged by the Enforcement Directorate and is currently free on bail.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accused Jain and others of possessing disproportionate assets in an August 2017 FIR, which is the basis for the money-laundering investigation.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in December 2018, claiming that the suspected disproportionate assets totaled ₹1.47 crore, which was around 217 percent more than the Jain’s known revenue sources from 2015 to 2017.
On October 18, leaders and supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) greeted Satyendar Jain as he left Tihar Jail.
In a money laundering case under investigation by the federal agency (ED), a city judge granted him bail, stating that there was “no likelihood” that the trial would begin, much less be finished.
When granting Jain’s release on a ₹50,000 personal bond, Special Judge Vishal Gogne’s court took into account the AAP leader’s lengthy prison sentence.
Since his arrest in May 2022, Jain has been imprisoned, with the exception of a 10-month medical bail term from May 26, 2023, to March 18, 2024.
In the recent assembly elections in Delhi, Karnail Singh, a candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defeated Satyendar Jain by around 21,000 votes in the Shakur Basti seat.
