President Droupadi Murmu has granted sanction to prosecute AAP leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in a money-laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. “The sanction against the 60-year-old politician has been sought under section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The Ministry of Home Affairs had requested sanction from the President of India based on an ED investigation and the presence of adequate proof,” a source said. The BNSS section governs the prosecution of judges and public servants for offences allegedly committed while performing their duties. “After getting sanction permission, the investigation officer will now file a fresh supplementary chargesheet informing the court about the approval of prosecution sanction,” the source added. Last month, the CBI informed a Delhi court that it had obtained the requisite sanctions to prosecute Jain in a disproportionate assets case. The ED booked Jain in the money-laundering case linked to alleged hawala dealings and arrested him in May 2022. Jain held the health, power and a few other portfolios when he was taken into ED custody. The case stems from an August 2017 FIR filed against Jain and others by the CBI on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets. The ED has attached properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to four companies allegedly linked to Jain and his relatives in connection with the money laundering probe, over which he spent more than 18 months in jail. Jain was granted bail in the case in October last year. The ED has alleged that during 2015-16, Jain was a public servant and that four companies (beneficially owned and controlled by him) received accommodation entries (hawala) totalling Rs 4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route. These amounts were utilised for the direct purchase of agricultural land or the repayment of loans taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi, the agency alleged. The ED has filed a chargesheet against Jain in the case.
