Delhi High Court seeks ED reply on plea against trial court summons to Satyendar Jain

The Delhi High Court Thursday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain against the trial court order summoning him in a money laundering case..The trial court had taken cognisance of ED chargesheet in July 2022 and issued summons to Jain.Though the ED opposed issuance of notice on Jain's petition challenging summons, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna went ahead and issued formal notice."They have come after years. Summons were issued in July 2022. They have come here only when we took this argument in opposition to their default bail," Advocate Vivek Gurnani for ED stressed. Senior Advocate N Hariharan appeared for Jain and said that he will answer all these arguments.Earlier, the High Court had in May issued notice to the ED on Jain's plea for default bail. Jain in that petition has challenged the Rouse Avenue Court's order denying him the relief..Jain is currently in jail in the case. .The ED's case against Jain stems from the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under Sections 13(2) (criminal misconduct by public servant) read with 13(e) (disproportionate assets) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.The case was registered on the allegation that Jain had acquired movable properties in the name of various persons between 2015 and 2017 which he could not satisfactorily account for.Later, the ED also registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and alleged several companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries amounting to ₹4.81 crore from shell companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through a hawala route..In March this year, the Supreme Court had rejected the bail plea of Jain and asked to surrender before jail authorities immediately. Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May 2022 and remained on medical bail for many months before the Supreme Court cancelled his bail in March 2024 and sent him back to jail.The top court last month asked the Delhi High Court to decide the bail plea filed by AAP leader without any delay.