The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a CBI probe against AAP leader and former prisons minister Satyendar Jain in Delhi in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, official sources said on Friday.
Jain, who is behind bars in connection with a money laundering case, was accused of extorting Rs 10 crore from a prisoner, Sukesh Chandrashekhar, for providing him protection in jail, they said.
Reacting to the development, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar claimed: “The BJP’s vengeful and vendetta-filled politics has now reached a new low: the word of a notorious conman is being believed and accepted as the gospel truth against someone who is the world’s famous Mohalla Clinic concept of Delhi.”
Jain held several important portfolios in Arvind Kejriwal’s government, including Health, before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in May 2022.
Besides Jain, former director general of Tihar prisons Sandeep Goel and some other staff members were accused of demanding and extorting “protection money” from high-profile inmates in Delhi jails.
The ministry cleared the CBI probe against Jain on March 22, following which Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena forwarded the file to the chief secretary for further appropriate action, an official confirmed.
A complaint was filed by Chandrashekhar following which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had initiated a probe into the matter and sought sanction from the competent authority to prosecute the former minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he said.
Chandrashekhar, who was lodged in Tihar Jail in a money laundering case, alleged in his complaint that ‘Jain had extorted Rs 10 crore from him in tranches during 2018-2021, either personally or through his accomplices, as protection money to help him ‘to live’. peacefully and comfortably’ in various jails of Delhi,” he said.
It was also alleged that some jail officials had extorted Rs 12.50 crore from him in installments during 2019-2022, he stated.
Kakkar said the Delhi LG was responsible for law and order in the national capital and added that the day is not far when the BJP will face “severe consequences” for its actions, both electorally and legally.
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