New Delhi: Over two years after he was first arrested, former Delhi health minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain has been granted bail in a money laundering case by a court in Delhi, which cited a delay in the trial and the long period of his incarceration.
Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May 2022 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on charges of money laundering through four companies from 2010 to 2012 and 2015-16, LiveLaw has reported.
Granting him bail, special judge Vishal Gogne of Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court cited the long period of incarceration and the fact that the trial in the case is yet to start.
“Considering the delay in trial and long incarceration of 18 months, and the fact that trial will take long to start, let alone conclude, accused is favourably suited for the relief,” the court was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.
In May last year, the Supreme Court granted Jain interim bail for six weeks for a spinal surgery. The court extended his interim bail by five weeks on July 24, 2023 and subsequently renewed it several times.
However, on March 18, 2024, the Supreme Court rejected Jain’s appeal against the dismissal of his bail plea. The court ordered him to surrender immediately after cancelling his medical bail.
While refusing him bail, the apex court had observed that Jain along with his aides Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain were prima facie guilty of money laundering offences.
Jain has become the fourth top AAP leader to be granted bail this year. Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in March in the alleged liquor policy case, was granted bail last month by the Supreme Court.
In August, the Supreme Court granted bail to former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in February 2023 in connection with the same case. While granting him bail, the court had noted that Sisodia had been robbed of the right to a speedy trial, which it called a ‘sacrosanct right’.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was also granted bail in April.
‘BJP conspiracy’
Following Jain’s bail, Sisodia said that the BJP had hatched a conspiracy to jail AAP leaders to stop development work in Delhi.
“Today we are very happy that our senior leader Satyendar Jain has been granted bail. He brought a health revolution in the country in the form of mohalla clinics and turned private health systems into public health systems. He built excellent government hospitals for the people of Delhi,” he said to reporters.
Sisodia continued: “This is not an impossible task and he made it possible for the people of Delhi. He has given the people of Delhi new hospitals and revamped old hospitals and given the revolutionary idea of mohalla clinics which has been adopted by other states.”
He said that Jain was jailed because the BJP was facing questions about why it was not able to develop similar healthcare systems in other states.
“This is why he was arrested. The BJP made the ED raid his house four times but did not find a single paper or a rupee. Under false charges the BJP imprisoned him under the PMLA. The BJP’s conspiracy has been exposed. The court has observed itself that it is not known how long the case will take.
“So today the BJP and Modi should apologise to Satyendar Jain for wasting so many days of his life. The BJP and Modi should also apologise to the people of Delhi as due to him being in jail, the work being done in public hospitals and mohalla clinics had been affected.
“The BJP jailed Satyendar Jain, me, Sanjay Singh and Arvind Kejriwal. In all cases false charges were filed and nothing was found against us. The BJP has been running a conspiracy to stop the work being done by the Delhi government.”
