NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs has granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Kumar Jain in a disproportionate assets case, a senior government official said on Thursday.
The agency alleged that Jain laundered black money worth Rs 16.39 crore in 2010-11 through 54 shell companies and via three hawala operators—Jeevendra Mishra, Abhishek Chokani and Rajendra Bansal.
According to sources, Jain had used Rs 16.39 crore for benami purchase of 200 bigha of land in the names of Vaibhav and Ankush Jain.
Proceedings under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, 1988 (PBPT Act) were undertaken by authorities against Jain and his shell companies and concluded by holding the minister responsible.
The health minister had appealed against the order but the appeal was dismissed in May 2018 and the land has been attached for confiscation.
Jain admitted in a writ petition before the Delhi High Court that the Rs 16.39 crore in black money was laundered using shell companies controlled by the three hawala operators in Kolkata.
The efforts of the AAP government to regularize unauthorized colonies during its first tenure, from December 28, 2013 to February 14, 2014, and the present tenure are linked to the health minister’s investment in agricultural land.
The proposed regularization of unauthorized colonies will convert these agricultural lands into residential and commercial land, which will provide huge returns on the investment by Jain.
A case was registered under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the health minister, Vaibhav and Ankush by the Central Bureau of Investigation in April 2018.
Reacting to the development, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari said, “Such people should be behind bars, the MHA’s decision shows that Arvind Kejriwal and his associates are criminals
in nature”.