Money laundering case: Satyendra Jain dares CBI to arrest him

New Delhi, April 12: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday said the charges had 'no merits' and dared the CBI to arrest him, shortly after the agency initiated a preliminary enquiry against him, for allegedly laundering Rs 16 crore, giving a fresh blow to the Aam Admi Party as it prepares for the MCD elections in the national capital.

Jain had himself dismissed the allegations after Income Tax had last month attached properties linked to him in the matter. Although the minister had 'technically' resigned as Director from these firms before 2013 assembly polls, in which AAP made anti-corruption a major election plank, he still controlled their operations, it is alleged.

Reacting to the development, Jain dubbed the probe ahead of MCD polls as 'politically motivated' and said there were 'no merits' in the allegations against him, daring the agency to arrest him.

'All this is expected. The matter was raised before the Punjab polls. After three months, they are doing it again ahead of the MCD polls,” he told reporters here. The Delhi government has started providing health care free of cost to people. No other government in the country provides free medicines and free



diagnostic tests, irrespective of the cost and this has 'affected' the politicians and pressure groups, he claimed.

'I have earned all my income with my hard work and I have been a tax payer for decades. I am not afraid of any probe about my income details, nor am I scared of any political vendetta,' Jain further said.

He had said he was a professional architect with a practice of nearly 25 years. Jain had said he had made investments of around Rs 51 lakh between the years 2007 and 2012 in few Pvt Ltd companies. He had said that since he did not want the conflict of interest, he 'resigned' from the boards of companies in which he was a director within 10 days of getting the AAP ticket to contest Delhi Assembly polls in 2013.

'Within 10 days of getting ticket, I resigned on 31st July 2013 from the boards of companies in which I was a director. I had taken this decision since I was entering politics and I did not want any conflict of interest,' he had said. The Minister had said he has not been associated since 31 July, 2013 with any of the companies and he failed to understand how his name was dragged with regard to investment value of the land etc.