NEW DELHI: Senior AAP leader and former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain walked out of the Tihar Jail Friday evening, hours after a city court granted him bail in a money laundering case.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, received him, who was in jail for around two years.
Sisodia hugged him as his party colleague walked out of the jail.
In his first reaction after the release, Jain alleged that he was arrested to stall the AAP government's projects such as Mohalla Clinics and Yamuna river cleaning.
He also alleged that he and AAP leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were arrested to dissuade common people from joining politics in the country.
He charged that his arrest was part of an attempt to defame Kejriwal who is working hard to ensure the government works for common man and not for a few chosen ones.
"We will continue our fight against injustice and work for the common man," Jain told a crowd of AAP leaders and workers outside the Tihar jail after his release.
He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on May 30, 2022, on the charge of laundering money through four companies allegedly linked to him.
Earlier in the day, the Rouse Avenue court here granted bail to Jain, citing "delay in trial" and his "long incarceration".
"Considering the delay in trial and long incarceration of 18 months, and the fact that trail will take long to start, let alone conclude, accused is favourably suited for the relief," said Special Judge Vishal Gogne.
The judge granted the relief on a bail bond Rs 50,000 with two sureties of like amount.
The ED case stems from an FIR lodged against Jain by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Following the Delhi court's decision to grant bail to Jain, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) described the ruling as a victory, asserting that the BJP’s efforts to discredit the party had failed. In a post on 'X', the AAP referred to the case as part of a BJP "conspiracy" and declared that the court's verdict exposed the party's attempts to target its leaders.
"Satyamev Jayate. Another conspiracy of BJP failed as Satyendra Jain ji, who brought about health revolution in Delhi by building magnificent Mohalla Clinics, got bail from the court. The real face of BJP has been exposed again now in front of the entire country," the AAP said in a post on X.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said Jain got bail after spending more than two years in jail.
"What was his fault?" he asked.
The former chief minister said multiple raids were conducted at Jain's place but not a single penny was recovered.
"His only fault was that he built Mohalla Clinics and made health services free for the people of Delhi. Modi ji put him in jail so that Mohalla Clinics could be stooped, thus preventing free treatment for the poor. But God is with us," he posted on X.
"Welcome back Satyendra!" he wrote.
Delhi chief minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann also termed Jain's bail a victory of truth.
"Satyamev Jayate, (truth alone triumphs)," Atishi posted on X.
In a post in Hindi, Mann said, "Truth won... The Rouse Avenue Court has granted bail to former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in the money laundering case.. After 2 years of arrest, truth has finally won..."
With the bail granted to Jain, all the AAP leader including party convener Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, facing probe and cases registered by the ED and CBI, are free now.
Sisodia who was released from custody in August after spending 17 months in the Tihar Jail in an excise policy case.
He hailed the Constitution after bail was granted to Jain.
"Satyamev Jayate. Long live the Constitution of the country," he posted in Hindi.
The court decision is another slap on dictatorship, he said.
"Satyendra Jain was kept in jail for such a long time over false and baseless allegations. His house was raided four times. Nothing was found, yet he was kept in jail in a false case under PMLA. Thanks to the judiciary of the country for supporting truth and justice," Sisodia posted.
Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in excise policy-related cases registered by the ED and CBI.
Singh who was also in jail in connection with the excise policy case.
He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in April, while another AAP leader Vijay Nair was granted bail by the court in the same case in September.
