(Image source from: ANI)

The Enforcement Directorate, or ED, has seized properties valued at Rs 7.44 crore that are associated with companies supposedly managed by Satyendar Kumar Jain, a former minister in Delhi and a leader in the AAP party. This step was taken on September 15 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which is from 2002. The investigation into money laundering began from a CBI case that was initiated in 2017. Jain is accused of gathering excessive assets from February 2015 to May 2017 while he held his ministerial position in the Delhi government led by AAP. In December 2018, the CBI presented charges against him, his spouse Poonam Jain, and others. In March 2022, the ED had already seized assets worth Rs 4.81 crore in this case and filed a complaint for prosecution, which was later acknowledged by a court in Delhi. With this new action, the total value of attached assets has now reached Rs 12.25 crore, which the agency claims corresponds to the full worth of the excessive assets Jain is said to have gained.

The ED noted that shortly after the demonetization in November 2016, two of Satyendar Jain’s close associates, Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain, put Rs 7.44 crore in cash as advance tax under the Income Disclosure Scheme. They reported assets worth Rs 16.53 crore under four companies, which were later found to be owned and managed by Satyendar Jain. Both the Income Tax Department and the Delhi High Court identified these associates as benami holders acting on Jain's behalf, a decision the Supreme Court confirmed after rejecting their appeals. Following this, the ED communicated its findings to the CBI, which filed an additional chargesheet that increased the total disproportionate assets linked to Jain. The ED has stated it will soon submit an extra prosecution complaint in this matter. Meanwhile, the trial is currently taking place at the Rouse Avenue Court located in New Delhi. Satyendar Jain, a leader from the Aam Aadmi Party, was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate on May 30, 2022, accused of laundering money through four shell companies that are reportedly associated with him. He was granted bail by a Delhi court two years later.