"Was In Jail When Tender Floated": Satyendar Jain To Court After Arrest In Corruption Case

Satyendar Jain, former Delhi minister of the Aam Aadmi Party arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in Jal Board tenders, told a court today that the tender in question was floated in December 2022 -- long after he was relieved of the portfolio. 

He said he was in jail at the time and was not in charge of any ministry though he was technically a minister. He was relieved of the portfolio after he was arrested on May 30, 2022, by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case. He had spent nearly 22 months in jail. 

Arrested again in connection with the Jal Board tender case yesterday and remanded in judicial custody along with the other accused, Jain told the court today that the Rs 1,546-crore tender did not appear to be correct, but the one for Rs 1,938-crore appeared to be valid.

The Case

The case relates to tenders worth around Rs 1,943 crore issued for the rehabilitation and capacity enhancement of 10 sewage treatment plants of the Delhi Jal Board. The case was registered following a May 10, 2024 report by the Delhi government's Vigilance Department.

The investigating agency has alleged that the tender conditions were altered in a manner that benefitted a particular company. The allegations include restricting technical requirements in the tender, removing certain essential water-quality parameters, and increasing the capacity of the Rohini STP from 15 MGD to 30 MGD. These changes resulted in an additional loss of around Rs 123 crore, the agency alleged. 

The agency has also alleged that evidence of financial transactions and WhatsApp conversations between people linked to Euroteck and some of the accused has been found.

Read: Case Will Be Proven Fake, Says Arvind Kejriwal

Satyendar Jain's Argument

If the capacity of an existing Sewage Treatment Plant is increased by 1.5 to 2 times, the cost will be roughly half of what would be required to set up a new plant, and the work could be completed in about a year, Jain said. After obtaining in-principle approval and several rounds of discussions, it was decided to upgrade and expand the existing STPs.

The objective was to improve the existing STPs because cleaning the Yamuna was a political commitment to the public. The target was to clean the river before the next election.

Read: AAP's Satyendar Jain's 'Punjab Polls' Claim Over His Arrest In Corruption Case

Initially, a target of 300 MGD was set, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,546 crore. Tenders were floated in four packages at approximately Rs 5 crore per MGD. But the file for this work did not come to him and he had to quit the portfolio soon after following his arrest, he claimed.

The Anti-Corruption Branch, which arrested Jain, said the tender was manipulated and changes were made to its terms and conditions. Moreover, it was only uploaded only on the Delhi Jal Board website, instead of being published in newspapers. Also money laundering and banking transactions worth around Rs 5 crore were carried out at the time, the Central agency said.

Accused In Judicial Custody

Jain, along with five other accused, including ex-Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai, was produced in court earlier today. The former minister has claimed that his arrest is politically motivated. Jain has been made AAP's in-charge for the Punjab election which is due in 2027.

His lawyer N Hariharan has claimed that the arrest was "made against the law". 

"The ACB did not provide any grounds for arrest to the accused. The Enforcement Department filed a chargesheet in this case, but no arrests were made. The ACB also called for questioning in this case and arrested him," he said.

This evening, Jain and four other accused, including  former Delhi Jal Board chief and IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai,  Nagendra Yadav, Raja Kumar Kurra and Pankaj Verma to judicial custody till September 3. All five will be produced before the court again at 11 am on September 3.

The court has agreed to hear the bail application of Rai tomorrow. His counsel specifically sought an early hearing, arguing that he is a senior government officer and could face suspension if his custody is extended. The bail applications of the rest will be heard on August 25. 

One of the accused, Ankit Srivastava, a former contractual consultant with the Jal Board, was sent to police custody for two days. The investigating agency said custodial interrogation was required to recover his mobile phone and obtain information about other people allegedly involved in the conspiracy. Srivastava will be produced before the court on August 21 at 2 pm. The court also directed the police to conduct his medical examination and interrogate him at a location monitored by CCTV cameras.

Accused Oppose Arrest

The accused have argued that the FIR was registered in May 2024, but the arrests were made nearly 27 months later. They said they had continuously cooperated with the investigation and that the investigating agency was already in possession of most of the documents related to the case.

They claimed that custodial detention was not necessary.

For now, the court refused to hold the arrests illegal but made it clear that the bail applications will be heard separately and that no final view had been taken on them at this stage.