A Delhi court on Wednesday sent former minister Satyendar Jain and five others to judicial custody in connection with an alleged corruption case linked to the Delhi Jal Board's (DJB) tender process for sewage treatment plants. The order, passed by Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh at the Rouse Avenue Courts, came after the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) arrested Jain, former DJB chief executive officer Udit Prakash Rai, and four others on Tuesday night.
Court orders custody for six, police custody for one
The court sent Jain, Rai, and three other accused — Nagendra Yadav, Raja Kumar Kurra, and Pankaj Verma — to 14-day judicial custody. Ankit Srivastava, a former contractual consultant with the DJB, was sent to two days of police custody. The court also issued notice to the ACB on a bail plea moved by Jain's counsel, with a reasoned order awaited and the bail plea itself scheduled to be heard on August 25.
Jain, a senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister, was arrested by the ACB in connection with the case. The FIR was registered on May 11, 2024, on a complaint by the Directorate of Vigilance, over alleged large-scale irregularities, manipulation of tender conditions, and criminal conspiracy in the tendering process for the augmentation and upgradation of sewage treatment plants under the DJB. The ACB has alleged that the tender included restrictive technical specifications that favored Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd, a company owned by one of the accused.
Arguments over tender timeline and arrest timing
In court, Jain contested the case's foundations, telling the court that the tender in question was floated in December 2022, months after he had ceased to hold the relevant portfolio. He argued he was not overseeing any ministry when the tender was issued, having been relieved of his portfolio following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 30, 2022, in a money laundering case. He remained in jail for nearly 22 months.
Jain's lawyer also argued that the ACB had not provided a satisfactory explanation for the timing of the arrest, questioning why the agency proceeded at that particular stage. The defense maintained that Jain was already in custody in connection with cases investigated by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation when the alleged tender-related wrongdoing took place.
AAP Legal Cell head Sanjeev Nasir called the arrest "completely wrongful" and politically motivated, echoing a claim made by Jain himself. While being taken to court, Jain said his arrest was linked to the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls, where he serves as AAP's co-in-charge. "This is done because the Punjab election is coming up. This is politics," he said.
Political reactions
The arrest has drawn sharp responses from both sides of the political divide. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the arrest was ordered directly by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In a post on X, Kejriwal alleged that an ACB official had revealed there was no plan to arrest Jain until morning, but a direct call came from Shah in the afternoon instructing the agency to do so.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, meanwhile, asserted that scams under the previous AAP government were coming to light. She pointed to 19 reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in the Delhi assembly, which she said had highlighted alleged corruption under the AAP government, and noted that investigative agencies were taking action on them.
Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra also targeted the previous AAP administration, alleging an STP scam and linking the failure to set up sewage treatment plants to worsening pollution in the Yamuna. AAP leaders, including Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj, questioned the arrest, with Bharadwaj terming the case "fake."
Jain had previously appeared before the ACB on June 6 last year for questioning in the case after being summoned by the agency. The FIR in the case invokes sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, including provisions related to criminal misconduct and criminal conspiracy.