The CBI on Sunday said it had seized three property papers, deposit slip for about ₹2 crore and cheque books allegedly linked to the Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain during searches in connection with the arrest of the Dental Council’s Registrar in a corruption case.
The documents were seized during searches following the arrest of Rishi Raj, Registrar of the Delhi Dental Council, and the Council’s advocate Pradeep Sharma, for allegedly demanding a bribe involving ₹4.73 lakh, said the agency. Mr. Jain is not named in the FIR.
‘Attempt to frame’
Accusing the CBI of deliberately attempting to frame Mr. Jain, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Since the BJP has not been able to fix him [Mr. Jain] in any other case, they are trying to frame him in this.”
“He [Mr. Jain] has submitted these documents to the CBI and has also declared them in his Income Tax returns. What is new in these? This is just another attempt by the BJP to tarnish Mr. Jain’s image,” said Mr. Bharadwaj.
Delhi government spokesperson Nagendra Sharma also defended the Minister, stating that the BJP-led Central government had been pulled up by the High Court on several occasions for the false cases against Mr. Jain.
Countering the AAP’s charges, the CBI said that two land sale deeds seized during the searches were originals.
“Why, after all, had Mr. Jain kept the originals and other papers with a person not related to him?” asked an agency official.
The case pertains to allegations that Dr. Raj had demanded money from a person for getting him a favourable order from the Council. .
Based on a complaint, the CBI laid a trap and arrested the Registrar and the advocate on Saturday night, when they were allegedly receiving the bribe.
Subsequently, the agency searched the residential and official premises of the accused persons, which led to the seizure of ₹24 lakh in cash and 500 gm of gold.
Bank deposit-slips
“Some papers allegedly related to Mr. Jain were also seized. They include two sale deeds of land parcels measuring over 12 bigha and more than eight bigha in Delhi’s Karala village and a Power of Attorney for another land measuring 14 bighas in the same area,” said a CBI official.
A bank deposit-slip with counter foils detailing cheque deposits for about ₹2 crore made in 2011, allegedly in the name of the Minister, the companies in which he had earlier served as a director and his family members, were also seized.
Besides, the CBI alleged, 41 cheque books in his name and that of his wife and a private estate firm have been found.
Cases against Minister
In August last year, the CBI had registered a disproportionate assets case against Mr. Jain and his wife for allegedly amassing illegal wealth of ₹1.62 crore between 2015 and 2017.
The agency has instituted a preliminary enquiry into Mr. Jain’s decision to allegedly set up a creative team of architects in the Public Works Department.
The Income-Tax Department is also probing Mr. Jain and had last year attached more than 123 bighas of agricultural land in Delhi. The department has alleged that over 200 bighas of land were bought in the name of various firms.
