New Delhi, 03 September (H.S.):

The Rouse Avenue Court has granted bail to former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in the Delhi Jal Board sewage treatment plant (STP) scam case. The court granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of the same amount. The court had reserved its order on Jain’s bail plea on August 25.

During the hearing, Jain’s counsel argued that he was arrested 27 months after the case was registered and had been summoned for questioning only once. The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), however, contended that Satyendar Jain was a habitual offender. Jain and the other accused were arrested on August 18.

Jain’s counsel, senior advocate Maninder Singh, had challenged the legality of his arrest, arguing that Jain was not informed of the grounds of arrest at the time of his arrest, which, he submitted, was in violation of the Supreme Court’s directions.

Apart from Satyendar Jain, the ACB had arrested former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, former contractual consultant to the Delhi Jal Board Ankit Srivastava, Nagendra Yadav, owner of M/s AN Enterprises, Raja Kumar Kurra, owner of M/s Eurotech Environment Private Limited, and Pankaj Verma, owner of M/s Srijanhar.

The accused were arrested in connection with an ACB FIR registered on May 11, 2024, under Sections 7, 7A, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 42, 409, 418 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

The ACB has alleged that the tender conditions were designed to favour a particular company.

Satyendar Jain had been released from Tihar Jail in October 2024 in connection with a money laundering case. He had spent 872 days in custody in the money laundering case after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 30, 2022. The trial court granted him bail on October 18, 2024.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar