A Delhi court on Wednesday sent former Delhi water minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain and four others accused in a Delhi Jal Board (DJB)-related corruption case being investigated by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to 14 days in judicial custody. Another accused, former DJB contractual consultant Ankit Srivastava, was sent to two days in ACB custody.
The court of special judge Dig Vinay Singh at Rouse Avenue Courts rejected an application by Jain’s counsel, senior advocate N Hariharan, seeking a declaration that his arrest was illegal. ED has also provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth ₹ 15.36 crore belonging to the accused.
The court added that even though the accused persons may have joined investigation at earlier instances whenever called by the investigating agency, “but merely on the ground today, it cannot be claimed that the IO could not have arrested the accused when they lastly appeared before him”. Senior advocate N Hariharan argued that as a minister, Jain was not a subject matter expert and merely relied on technical recommendations and notings made by DJB officers, including engineers, and his decision “cannot be faulted with”.
None of the accused had been arrested by the ED when it filed its prosecution complaint, which is pending cognisance before the same court.
The other accused sent to judicial custody are Nagendra Yadav, proprietor of AN Enterprises; Raja Kumar Kurra, owner of Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd; and Pankaj Verma, proprietor of Srijanhar. Former DJB chief executive officer IAS Udit Prakash Rai is also an accused in the case.
The court, in a detailed order rejecting the plea of the accused persons, stated, “At this stage of the matter it cannot be claimed that the reasons for arrest mentioned towards the end of the written grounds of arrest documents are insufficient for the investigating officer to arrest the accused persons”. The agency told the court that Srivastava’s custodial interrogation was necessary to establish the source of the corrigendum and determine the involvement of other DJB officials. Additional public prosecutor Manish Rawat also alleged that several “hawala transactions” had been traced to the accounts of the accused and that their financial trail needed to be established.
