Home ministry requests president for prosecution sanction against AAP's Satyendar Jain

The ministry requested the sanction on the basis of an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation and the presence of "adequate proof", they added.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approached the President seeking sanction to prosecute senior AAP leader and former Delhi Minister Satyendar Kumar Jain in a money-laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), officials said on Friday.

The request for sanction for prosecution under Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita is based on the ED investigation and the presence of "adequate proof", they said. The ED had arrested Jain, a close confidante of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, in May 2022.

The money-laundering case against Jain arose out of a CBI FIR in August 2017 on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets. It was alleged that he amassed disproportionate assets of Rs 1.47 crore, which was 217 per cent more than his known sources of income during 2015-17.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet in December 2018 while Jain had denied the allegations.

The ED had said that its probe had found that "during 2015 and 2016, when Satyendar Kumar Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route."

"These amounts were utilised for direct purchase of land or for repayment of loan taken for the purchase of agricultural land in and around Delhi," it had said. The Income Tax Department also investigated this and issued an order attaching "benami assets" allegedly linked to Jain.

Jain, who represented Shakur Basti since 2013 winning three consecutive elections, was defeated in the seat in the 2025 polls by BJP's Karnail Singh. He has been a minister in the AAP government since 2013 but resigned in February 2023, nine months after he was arrested.

The 60-year-old leader, who is a member of AAP’s all powerful Political Affairs Committee, handled health, home, industries, power and water among other departments. After he was arrested, he was retained as a minister without portfolio till his resignation.