NEW DELHI: In a major relief for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, a Delhi court on Monday accepted the CBI’s closure report in a 2018 corruption case related to the hiring of a creative team for the Public Works Department (PWD).
Special CBI Judge Dig Vinay Singh approved the report, observing that the investigation found no evidence of criminal conduct, personal gain, bribery, or procedural violations.
“In the absence of any evidence and sanction, the present final report for closure of the FIR is accepted,” the judge noted. The case, registered in May 2018, named Jain and senior PWD officials under IPC Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The allegations centred around the appointment of a 17-member team of consultants via a third-party agency—Soni Detective & Allied Services Pvt Ltd—through alleged manipulation of tender procedures and dilution of eligibility norms.
It was also alleged that payments to these consultants were routed through unrelated project expenditures without proper financial approval.
The CBI, after a four-year probe, concluded that the appointment of consultants was justified and done transparently. The agency said no illegality, undue benefit, or loss to the exchequer could be established. The closure report, first filed in April 2022, was delayed due to opposition from Delhi’s Department of Vigilance, which questioned the agency’s findings and accused it of relying too heavily on the statements of the accused.
Reacting to the court’s decision, AAP leader Atishi said, “For ten years, BJP has misused central agencies to defame our leaders. More than 200 cases have been filed. When these cases go to court, it comes to light that AAP leaders have done nothing wrong,” she said at a press briefing.
“BJP can keep filing false cases, but truth and justice will prevail,” she added. AAP’s Delhi state convener Saurabh Bharadwaj said the “conspiracy” of the BJP had been exposed. “The conspiracy of BJP exposed. False cases by CBI revealed. The despicable thinking of BJP’s central government and their LG - file false cases against Kejriwal’s government ministers and MLAs to hinder their work, defame them in the name of corruption. Now the truth is coming to light,’ he said in a post on X.