New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has seized Rs 2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Health Minister Satyendra Jain’s aides during its day-long raid conducted on Monday.
During the search, various incriminating documents and digital records were also seized, said the ED. The ED said that the total movable assets were seized from an “unexplained source” and were “found to be secreted” in the raided premises.
The assets were seized during a search operation carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 at the premises of Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and his accomplices and other persons who had either directly or indirectly assisted him or participated in the processes of money laundering.
Those who assisted the Delhi Minister in the money laundering are named as Ankush Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Naveen Jain and Siddharth Jain (Directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), G S Matharoo (Chairman of Lala Sher Singh Jeevan Vigyan Trust which runs Prudence Group of Schools), Yogesh Kumar Jain (Director in Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), father-in-law of Ankush Jain and Lala Sher Singh Jeevan Vigyan Trust, said the ED.
The federal agency’s separate teams had carried out the searches at six places in Delhi, including the residence of Jain, and one in Gurugram since morning.
The places raided by the ED across Delhi included Ram Prakash jewelers Pvt Ltd in southeast Delhi.
The agency conducted raids after it arrested Jain on May 30 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On May 31, a trial court sent Jain to ED’s custody till June 9.
The move comes days after the federal agency arrested Jain on May 30. Jain is in the custody of ED till June 9.
Investigation revealed that one accomplice member of Lala Sher Singh Jeevan Vigyan Trust had provided accommodation entries for the transfer of land from a company beneficially owned by Satyendar Jain to family members of accomplices in order to alienate the property and to frustrate the process of confiscation.
The ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 24, 2017, under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.
The CBI filed a charge sheet on December 3, 2018, against Satyendar Kumar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, and Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.
The charge sheet mentions that Satyendar Jain while holding the office as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, during the period February 14, 2015, to May 31, 2017, had acquired assets that are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The CBI has accused Satyendar Kumar Jain and others of the commission of offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Jain was arrested 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