BJP indulging in political vendetta ahead of Himachal polls: AAP

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for arresting Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in "fake" case and said that BJP is indulging in "political vendetta" against the party ahead of the Himachal Pradesh elections.

Addressing a press conference, Singh alleged that Jain had been arrested in an 8-year-old case as soon as he was made the AAP in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, and said that he had already been given a clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter.

"In an 8-year-old fake case, Satyendar Jain has been arrested, in which case he has appeared before ED seven times. But he was never arrested. In a related matter, the CBI had given him a clean chit. As soon as he is made the Himachal Pradesh in-charge, BJP's stomach starts to ache. BJP knows it is losing elections there, so a fake matter is used to arrest him. BJP could not digest that Jain was made Himachal Pradesh in-charge, so they hatched this fake arrest," said Singh.

The AAP MP further said that the investigative agencies are being misused and soon he will be released because this is a baseless case.

"This case highlights the misuse of probe agencies. Soon he (Satyendar Jain) will be out as it's a baseless case. BJP is losing the Himachal Pradesh polls. BJP can do whatever tricks they want, AAP will fight Himachal Pradesh elections. They are rattled," he added.

Referring to the raids conducted by probe agencies on AAP leaders, he said, "You must remember, our Ministers, CM were raided, our leaders were sent to jail because of BJP's political vendetta. In every case, we were acquitted and given clean chit. This is a drama and nautanki to insult the AAP. 9 FIRs were filed against me in one day. BJP is scared of defeat, so they have arrested him," he said.

Earlier today, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Health and Home Minister Satyendar Jain in connection with alleged hawala transactions related to a Kolkata-based company.

Jain was arrested after a special ED team raided his place in Delhi.

The action came after the ED in April this year attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore owned by companies named Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in connection with the disproportionate asset and money laundering case registered Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and others.

It may be recalled that on August 25, 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an FIR against Jain in a money laundering case.

The ED had registered a criminal case against the AAP leader based on this FIR in which it had been alleged that Jain could not explain the source of funds received by four companies in which he was a shareholder.

Jain had reportedly floated or bought several shell companies in Delhi. He also allegedly laundered black money worth Rs 16.39 crore through 54 shell companies of three hawala operators of Kolkata.

Jain allegedly owned a large number of shares in companies named Prayas, Indo, and Akinchan. However, after becoming Minister in Kejriwal's government, all his shares were transferred to his wife in 2015, as per reports.

These companies used to transfer cash payments to their Kolkata counterparts and these companies would later, under the ruse of buying shares, "route back the money" to Jain by employing legal means. The companies have reportedly laundered money to the tune of Rs 16.39 crores from 2010 to 2014 to Satyendra Jain.

As per government sources, when prosecuted by the I-T Department, Jain surrendered black money in form of cash of Rs 16.39 crore under Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) 2016 on benami names of Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.

In November 2019, the Home Ministry approved the prosecution of Jain in cases related to disproportionate assets and money laundering.

Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to be held later this year.

( With inputs from ANI )

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