NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim medical bail to Delhi's former Health Minister, Satyendar Jain, seeking bail in a money laundering case for six weeks.
A vacation bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and PS Narasimha granted him bail to allow him to take treatment in a private hospital of his choice. Although he has been granted bail the court has directed him to not influence the witnesses, leave GNCTD without court’s leave and also go in any press or media to make any statement on any issue. The court’s order will remain in operation till July 11.
Jain was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case based on an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He is accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him and has been in custody since May last year after the attachment of properties worth Rs 4.81 crore by the ED. The money belonged to the five companies.
Jain had challenged the Delhi High Court's April 6 order, which refused to grant him bail, noting that it did not find any illegality in the rejection of his bail pleas by the trial court on November 17, 2022. Noting that Jain is an influential person and has the potential to tamper with the evidence, as indicated by his conduct during custody, High Court Judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had said, "In order to grant bail, there has to be substantial probable cause for first believing that the accused is not guilty of the offense." Referring to the testimonies, the bench stated in its order, "Jain is the conceptualizer, visualizer, and executor of the entire operation, and he was aided and abetted by Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.
"The plea of Satyendar Kumar Jain that he was not found in physical possession of any property needs to be rejected outright, as for the offence of money laundering, physical possession of the proceeds of crime is not necessary. Similarly, the fact that the acquired shares were transferred back to Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain will also make no difference, as it may again be done to conceal the proceeds of crime or project them as untainted money. The companies are controlled and managed by Satyendar Jain, and the 'constant changing pattern' of shareholding clearly indicates that he was indirectly controlling the company affairs," the bench had said in its order.