Satyendar Jain of the AAP’s “Punjab Polls” Claim Regarding His Arrest in a Corruption Case

Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi water minister Satyendar Jain has blamed the approaching Assembly elections in Punjab as the reason behind his detention in the corruption case relating to the Delhi Jal Board.

The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) detained Jain on Tuesday for allegedly participating in the manipulation of a tender procedure at the Delhi Jal Board. Jain had been imprisoned for about eighteen months in a money laundering case in 2022. Jain informed the journalists as he was led to Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, “It is done because of the Punjab elections”.

Jain, along with five other accused, including ex-Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, have been produced before the court. Later, Jain’s lawyer, senior Advocate N Hariharan, asserted that the arrest was “made against the law”. “The ACB did not provide any grounds for arrest to the accused. The Enforcement Department filed a chargesheet in this case, but no arrests were made. The ACB also called for questioning in this case and arrested him,” he said.

According to his lawyer, Jain is accused of deliberately changing the standards of an STP (Sewage Treatment Plant), while the meeting notes say otherwise. “The grounds for the arrest are completely false. There is no evidence that Jain received any bribe money. The arrest is completely illegal,” he said.

In a statement, the anti-corruption branch said that the Directorate of Vigilance has submitted a complaint about widespread irregularities, manipulation of bidding conditions, and criminal conspiracy in the Delhi Jal Board’s sewage treatment plant upgrade tendering process. According to its inquiry, the tendering procedure allegedly included restricted technical specifications and restrictions that favoured a particular technology provider, Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd.

It alleged that a proposed pilot study was not conducted, restrictive conditions were put in place and some essential parameters related to the treated effluent were excluded. “The investigation also revealed that Udit Prakash Rai, the then CEO of DJB, received a bribe to the tune of Rs 1.52 crore in his and his relatives’ bank accounts through banking channels from M/s AN Enterprises, a proprietorship concern of Nagendra Yadav, and that the said amount was allegedly utilised for purchase of immovable property,” the Anti-Corruption Branch said.

AAP hit out at Jain’s arrest and called the move “political”. “How many more proofs are needed that the BJP is scared of the AAP? At the time of that Jal Board tender, Satyendar ji was in jail. How did he become responsible from jail? The real reason is that Satyendar Jain is the AAP co-in-charge of Punjab and elections are coming up there,” AAP National Media In-charge Anurag Dhanda wrote on X.