The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Delhi High Court, requesting it to direct the trial court to defer the framing of charges against AAP leader Satyendar Jain in a 2017 money laundering case until the agency files a supplementary prosecution complaint.
Justice Vikas Mahajan has sought Jain’s response to the ED’s plea and scheduled the next hearing for March 3.
Earlier, Jain had also filed a petition seeking a delay in the framing of charges, arguing that it should be postponed until further investigations in both the money laundering case and a related corruption case by the CBI are completed. On September 4, a trial court rejected his request, prompting him to move the High Court.
Now, the ED has aligned with Jain’s plea to a certain extent, seeking a deferment only until it can submit an additional prosecution complaint. ED counsel Zoheb Hussain informed the Court about recent developments in the case, stating that the CBI has filed a supplementary chargesheet, expanding the scope of the alleged proceeds of crime against Jain.
The quantum of disproportionate assets has increased from ₹1.47 crore to ₹3.95 crore. Hussain argued that these new findings should be incorporated into the prosecution complaint before the trial court proceeds further.
The Court issued a notice after hearing these arguments, with Senior Advocate N Hariharan accepting it on behalf of Jain. The case involves allegations that Jain acquired assets between 2015 and 2017 that he could not adequately explain.
The CBI initially registered a corruption case against him, followed by the ED’s money laundering probe, alleging that companies linked to him received ₹4.81 crore through hawala transactions. Jain was arrested by the ED in 2022 and released on bail in October 2024, after securing intermittent medical bail between May 2023 and March 2024.
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